


Little Surprises

by devylish



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: F/M, Female Character of Color
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-05
Updated: 2012-05-05
Packaged: 2017-11-04 21:06:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 24,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/398199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devylish/pseuds/devylish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Business trips always end up like this, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The End and The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer on profile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> edited the repeated/cut paste sections! sorry about that! 060212

Callie groaned as she lifted her head from the edge of the toilet. This was ridiculous; for a full week now she'd been sick as a dog at the most inopportune moments.

The most inopportune times being whenever she ate, whenever she moved, whenever she was awake. 

She'd thought, at first, that it was just the flu - it was amazing that she didn't catch more colds and flus with the kind of stuff she was exposed to at the hospital - but after day three hit, she started to question the 'flu' diagnosis. In between her bouts of puking, she felt fine. Energized even. The flu would leave her feeling drained.

So no flu.

But still puking.

_Day 5._

She glanced at the box sitting on the toilet next to her. A small pink and blue box that she'd been carrying around with her for about two days.

There was no way it was possible, but… well, okay, technically it was possible.

But… shit!

Standing up, she ripped open the box and pulled out the contents. Plastic stick and instructions. She crumpled up the instructions, shimmied out of her scrub pants and sat down.

Seven minutes later and a starry eyed, light headed Callie was wandering the halls of SGH, gloves and pen in one pocket of her lab coat, plastic stick with a giant blue + sign in the other pocket.

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

Yang offered a sarcastic response at the same time that she settled on the floor next to the crying Callie. "So, uh do we know who your baby's daddy is?"

Callie dropped her head onto Yang's slender shoulder and with a nod, hiccupped a morose, "yes."

"Well that's a good thing. I mean, we could be clueless. This way we know who's responsible for child support payments."

Callie didn't know if Yang's statement made her want to cry or laugh more, so she compromised, and did both.

"Oh shit. Don't cry Torres. I don't do well with crying girls. Or crying boys for that matter. Tears in general, not good." She awkwardly hugged her roommate; patting her shoulder hesitantly.

After a few seconds of torrential tears/laughter, Callie pulled herself together and with a sniff pulled away from Yang. "I'm in so much of a mess here Yang. I mean, I'm in a huge huge fucked up situation here."

"Pregnancy isn't the end of the world Callie."

"It is when -," Callie halted and shimmied a glance at Cristina.

"When what?" Yang leaned in curiously.

"Pinky swear, mother's grave, pass your boards, promise not to tell anyone?"

"Shit! Why does everyone make me swear to keep my mouth shut?"

"Because you _are_ the hospital gossip, other people pale in comparison to you when it comes to gossip."

"I don't gossip. I share. I'm a sharing person." She turned her body to face Callie's, "it's a good thing."

Callie sighed, this was probably a horrible idea. A horrible idea at the culmination of a long line of horrible ideas. But she needed to share; needed input. "So you remember how I told you I was going to the Yakima medical convention two or three months ago?"

"Yup. The boring convention. You said it was one of the most boring 12 hours that you've ever spent in your life."

"Yeah, well, um…"

"You met the dad at the convention?" Yang jumped in.

"Well, sort of…, yes."

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

_Two and a half months earlier_

Callie had just taken a seat at one of the tables closest to the lounge doors when she felt someone tap her shoulder. She turned to the side and came face to face with Derek Shepherd. 

"Dr. Torres," he smile genially and sat down in the chair next to her, "So I hear we both got looped into going to the Yakima Medical Convention?"

"You're going too? I thought the hospital was trying to watch their spending? Sending two doctors to a convention for two days, not exactly frugal."

"I'm a late addition to the attendee list, turns out Dr. Erik Guether is going to put in an appearance."

"Ooooh, your rival."

"He's not my rival, he's a colleague..., and a very talented neurosurgeon. And since he's here on the west coast, it makes sense that I try and hear him speak."

Callie lightly nudged her shoulder into Derek's. "If it makes you feel any better, even if though he's handsome, European, and very talented, if I needed a neurosurgeon, I'd still choose you."

He shook his head and smiled over at her. "Thanks, Torres."

"No problem. Hey, wanna road trip together?" As soon as she asked the question, she wanted to thunk herself on the head. 'Road trip with McPerfect? We barely talk to one another at work…ABOUT work…, and now, I've offered to lock myself in a car with him for 2.5 hours?' Doink.

"Sounds like a plan. I'll pick you up at 1600 tomorrow?"

Crap. "Sure."

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

I never 'plan' to get myself into these messes. I wake up most mornings in a groggy, but positive mood; prepared to face the day like any other normal person does. 

And then, I open my mouth and it all goes to hell in a hand basket.

Or hell in a Land Rover as the case may be.  
.  
.  
.

They'd been on the road for about twenty minutes, windshield wipers beating the windows in a frantic staccato, when she finally commandeered the radio.

"What're you doing?"

"Making you cool."

"I'm already cool."

"You listen to talk radio… so that's not even possible." She flipped the dial a few times until she heard a blast of music that made her grin from ear to ear. Spinning the dial until the volume was at maximum she started dancing in her seat. Eyes closed, lips moving, hair swinging….

And I need your love, babe  
That's all I'm living for, yeah.

I didn't wanna pressure you, baby  
But all I ever wanted to do

I wanna be your lover  
I wanna be the only one that makes you come, running  
I wanna be your lover  
I wanna turn you on, turn you out  
All night long, make you shout  
Oh, lover! Yeah!

Derek split his focus between the rain slicked roads and Callie's carefree antics; a smile building on his face until he gave in and started singing along with her.

Callie opened her eyes, and flashed a grin at Derek as they grooved to Prince.

And they say I'm so shy  
But with you I just go wild!

I didn't wanna pressure you, baby (No)  
But all I ever wanted to do

I wanna be your lover

As the song faded, Callie turned the radio volume down and lightly punched Derek in the arm. "You like Prince!"

"He's a phenomenal guitarist." 

"Yeah, but not in that piece… that piece is pure fluff!" She stared at him. "Derek, you've got a secret freak in you!"

He laughed. "I like all kinds of music. And all kinds of books. And all kinds of women." He glanced at her again. "I'm multi faceted."

She laughed in his direction and, suddenly completely comfortable in his presence, she asked him the question that had been eating away at her for the past year. "So… I'm curious, what happened between you and Meredith?"

Keeping his eyes trained on the darkening landscape, Derek hedged his response, "You two are friends, she didn't tell you?"

"Okay first, we're not friends. We're acquaintances, friends of friends. And secondly, no. She didn't say much about 'the break up'." Callie smiled darkly as she remembered something Meredith **had** said. "She did mention something about wanting to sneak into your RV some night and shave all of your hair off."

He unconsciously lifted his hand to his temple before bringing it back down to the steering wheel as the car swerved. "That was probably right after we broke up… right?"

"Yup… haven't heard her threaten that recently."

The thwack thwack of the wipers played in time to the tune on the radio. 

Callie pushed. "Sooooo?"

He evaded again, a smile catching his lips "maybe I was too much of a freak for her."

"Pffft." Callie turned in her seat so that she was facing him a little more. "Ooops, did I say that out loud?"

Thwack thwack.

"Meredith is a lot of… work," he offered quietly.

"And that translated out of boy speak would mean? "

"She's a lot of work." He turned the wipers up to high. Thwick thwick thwick thwick.

"So you guys broke up because you're lazy?"

He ignored her jab. "I know relationships take work, and I'm willing to put in my fair share. I'm even willing to do over my fair share. But Mere… Mere is wonderful…. Wonderful and high maintenance…, and she never trusted me."

"Did you earn her trust?" Callie asked before moving on to the first half of Derek's complaint. "Meredith doesn't really strike me as the high maintenance type."

Derek snorted, then clarified. "I'm not talking about 'jewelry or fancy cars' high maintenance, I'm talking about emotionally. I spent all of our relationship 'talking'. Answering questions. Soothing the feathers that I somehow, accidentally, unknowingly ruffled." He looked at Callie then turned his eyes back to the road. "High maintenance."

"Women talk. That's how we learn shit. I dare you to find a woman who doesn't ask questions."

"Addison didn't ask questions… or at least nowhere near as many questions."

"You're still interested in Addie?"

"Jesus no!"

"That was adamant."

"We're much better friends then we were spouses."

"Well I still say most women ask questions." 

"I don't mind occasionally answering questions. But whatever happened to silent communication? To knowing what your partner was thinking without having to verbalize it."

"Are you kidding me?" She looked at him as if he was insane, not that he noticed her stare with how fiercely his eyes were glued to the freeway. "Women and men understanding one another… without even talking? Nonverbal communication between the sexes is a fallacy."

"Where the hell did this weather come from?" He muttered.

Callie ignored his question "I thought… everyone thought you and Meredith were 'it'. The perfect couple."

"The perfect 'tortured' couple." He sighed, "Is it just me," he dared to pull his eyes from the road and glanced at Callie. "Or should love be more of a good thing?" 

"What?"

"I get that you have to work at it... but should you constantly worry about whether it's worth it?"

Callie settled back in her seat. "No." Her voice was low. 

They drove to the sound of the wipers and the muted radio for ten minutes each lost in their own thoughts. Derek broke the semi-silence with a swear. "Damn, where'd the hell did this weather come from? I'm going to take the next exit; I think we need to see if we can sit out this storm for a bit."

When they pulled off of the highway, the blinking 'vacancy' lights of some small hotel/motel winked at them through the downpour.

Pulling into the lot, Derek flipped the radio stations until he found something that was broadcasting the weather.

'…. most of Washington. In particular we're seeing flash flooding and blinding rains along the southeast corridor of the state. Yakima and surrounding suburbs are being told to stay indoors unless it's absolutely necessary to travel. We expect this flash flooding and torrential storm to continue until after midnight tonight.'

Callie groused, "Are you kidding me? I hate this state. Noah's ark style storms out of nowhere. What the hell?"

"You've been here for four years; you should be use to it by now."

"This doesn't bother you?"

He shrugged, "We'll get a couple of rooms here, then make the last hour, hour and a half, of the trip tomorrow morning." He started the engine and drove the truck as close to the office of the Spencer Hotel as possible. "I'll be right back."


	2. You're the Man!

They burst through the hotel room door, rain dropping off of them in sheets; their baggage weighing them down. Or rather, Callie's baggage weighing them down.

"You're definitely a girl Torres, what the hell is in these bags?"

"Was there ever a doubt that I was a woman?" Not letting him answer, she gestured to the single bed in the room. "Fail to mention something to me?"

Derek flushed lightly. "This is the only room they had left. The manager said that there's another hotel maybe, 30 miles south," he glanced at the torrential night through the still open door, "we could try and make it, but…"

"No!" Callie dropped her bag on the floor, "The only way I'm going back out into that mess, is if this room starts on fire."

"Thank God." Derek kicked the door shut.

… And suddenly the room was much smaller.

They stood listening to the muted staccato of the rain for a few seconds, each of them staring at the smallest queen size bed they'd ever seen.

"Shower!" Callie yelled, breaking the bed's power. She marched towards the bathroom. ****

"Is that anything like 'shotgun'?"

"Let's just say that I'd wrestle you for dibs on the shower at this point."

 _Wrestling could be fun._ He ran his hand through his hair, clearing his head of the unexpected thoughts that were running through it. "Hey Callie?" The door to the bathroom was still open as she looked for towels and soap.

"Yup?"

"There's a diner attached to this place. The manager said they'd be open for another hour. I'm going to go grab something to eat, you want anything?"

Callie stuck her head out the door and grinned. "I think I love you Shepherd. 1) Dibs on the shower, 2) food delivered to my door…. You ARE the man."

He smiled, "You **will** owe me one Torres, " He turned up the collar on his shirt. "Whadaya want?"

"Surprise me. Anything but a ham sandwich."

"No ham. Gotcha." He opened the door and yelled back into the room, "save some hot water for me!"

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

"All right Sweetheart, you're all set. Two Mama's Burgers with the works, 2 orders of fresh, hot fries, two pieces of apple pie, and two pieces of chocolate, chocolate cake. Ketchup and mustard are in the bag. Oh, and I threw a couple of bottled waters and sodas into the bag too."

The elderly woman, who apparently served, waited, cooked, and cashiered at the hotel diner, did some mental calculations. "That'll be, ohhh, $12."

Pulling a twenty out of his wallet, Derek handed the cash to her and grabbed the bags she'd set on the counter. "Thanks."

"No problem sweetheart; we open back up, if this rain ever lets up, at around 7am. Fresh waffles until 11 am."

_Waffles. He hadn't had real waffles (leggo my eggo didn't count) in years._

He didn't think that he and Callie would have time to stop for breakfast if they wanted to get to the conference on time, but he thanked the woman anyway. "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks again."

Pushing into the hotel room Derek found a mostly dry, scantily clad Callie sitting on the edge of the bed.

Okay, she wasn't really scantily clad. She was wearing a T-shirt, tap shorts, and big, white, men's socks. But the whole outfit… the picture… the fact that these were the clothes Callie would most likely be sleeping in…. It felt scanty.

As he shut the door behind him, Callie looked up from her spot on the bed, a towel held in her hands, smoothing over her dark, wet, locks. She smiled sheepishly, "You look like hell. Wet hell."

"Gee thanks Torres. You, on the other hand, look warm and cozy." He put the food down on the dresser and bent down to pick up his carry all. "Food's in there."

Callie made some sort of growl/groan/moany sound and dropped the towel onto the bed. "Well hurry up man! Get your shower on so we can eat!"

Surprised that she was going to wait for him, he raised a brow in her direction.

She shrugged, "I hate eating alone."

Well that was something he could identify with. One of the things he missed most about being married and about dating was the 'not having to be alone'. When you were part of a couple there was the assumption - the pleasure - of 'being part of a couple'. You had someone who you knew wanted to spend time with you; even if it was just to do the most stupid, rote, normal crap. Like grocery shopping. Jesus, he missed grocery shopping with a woman. Stupid. But yeah. Eating with a woman. Grocery shopping; having her call out when he got home to find out how his day had gone.

It was good to have someone. Even if they were a temporary someone.

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

Derek was in and out of the shower in four minutes. Just enough time to take the chill off of his body and to put on a t-shirt and sweatpants.

As he opened the bathroom door and headed back into the main room, it hit him again.

_I'm sharing a bedroom with Callie Torres._

_Screw that, I'm sharing a bed with Callie Torres._

Callie snatched a fry out of the bag and popped it into her mouth just in time to be caught by Derek.

"I thought you were waiting?"

"Five minutes Shepherd. I waited five whole minutes. I deserve an award or something for waiting that long."

"Did you leave any for me?"

"Hey! That was my first one!" She grabbed the bags and moved them to the center of the bed. Sitting cross legged in front of the headboard, she broke the bags open. She crowed with delight as she took an appreciative sniff, "These things smell like heaven!"

"Heaven smells like a big greasy burger and fries?"

"…and chocolate cake; don't forget the chocolate cake."

He dropped his towel on a chair, and joined Callie on the bed, their impromptu bed-picnic spread out before them. "So, I did good?"

"Do you always dig for compliments, Shepherd?""

"Are you always so stingy with giving them, Torres?"

She picked up another fry and waving it around she offered a false cheer: "rah rah rah, Shepherd rocks. Rah rah rah, you're the best. Rah –"

Derek reached across the bed, and stole the fry from Callie's fingers and popped it into his mouth. "Thanks."

Callie's jaw dropped; "Watch it Shepherd, it's not wise to come between a Torres woman and her food."

He grinned, "I'll keep that in mind."

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

They finally turned off the lights and shut off the TV - after watching a few episodes of an NCIS marathon – and then they lay there. In the dark.

In one bed.

One wildly small, queen size bed.

Sharing a mattress.

Sharing a sheet.

And sharing body heat.

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

Even though they'd carefully, silently put a foot of space between their bodies, Callie could feel the warmth emanating from Derek's lean frame.

So she lay on her side and stared at the wall in front of her. Her eyes wide open as she listened to him breathe; wondering if he was still awake. Wondering if he was listening to the sound of her breathing.

Forcing herself to take slow, steady breaths, Callie closed her eyes and finally, eventually, gave in to the call of sleep.

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

Derek woke up and turned his head to the clock – 12:03. Lifting his hand to his jaw, he paused in mid arc when he realized more than a sheet and a blanket draped him. Callie Torres covered him.

He let out a slow breath and assessed the situation. _Assessment. That's what doctors do._

Her head was on his chest, her hair cascading across his shoulder. Her leg was curled over one of his thighs, while her foot was tucked under his other leg. And her hand… her hand was at his hip.

A smile curved at his lips; apparently, Callie was a cuddler.

His body started to relax beneath her warmth, and he yawned. _I'll detangle myself in just a second._ He closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep.

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

The next time he woke up his body wasn't so relaxed. At least, a specific part of his body wasn't relaxed. He and Callie were laying in more or less the same position as they had been when last he woke; but now… now….

Her hand had sloped lower on his body, moving from his hip, to… to the happy spot.

And yeah… the 'spot' was happy.

_Shit! How do you get out of this one Derek? Shit!_

She stretched against him, a soft pulse of her breath skipping across his chest.

_Shit!_

He took a couple of quick puffs of air and gave an almost inaudible grunt. If she just moved her hand a little lower…

 _Derek!_ He yelled inwardly, _get a grip!_

His other brain whispered, _Better yet, let Callie get a grip…_

_Shit! How the hell am I… Jesus, just a little lower Callie…_

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

Callie's breath caught in her throat and her eyes fluttered open.

His hands were at her hips and he was pressing her against the bed.

She gave a muffled little groan as his lips moved down along her neck.

 _What the hell?_ She blinked, and focused on him. Derek. Derek Shepherd was... she breathed in – only it was less of a breath and more of a gasp – Jesus! Derek Shepherd was moving over her, traversing her body with his hands… and his lips… and his – oh yeah! … other body parts.

She let these thoughts run through her mind as she breathed his air. Breathed his skin.

She let her lips move against his jaw and slid her hands from his biceps up to his shoulders. Then her brains kicked in… briefly. "Wha – what are we doing?"

A low, half moan escaped his throat and suddenly she found her arms above her head, her wrists trapped in one of his hands.

His other hand was at her neck, forcing her to tilt her head back, upwards; his thumb gracing her jaw.

He lowered his hand from her neck, to the v collar of her t-shirt down to the curve of her breast; his hand palming the heavy flesh. As he kneaded her soft, full breast, she sighed. "Shepherd…? Derek? What…?"

"Shhhhh." This wasn't planned. It wasn't expected. But it felt… it felt so flawlessly right. Her curves against his body, her legs wrapped around him.

The two of them.

The geek and the outsider.

The brain and the spirit.

Together. Driven by need.

His hand cupped the fullness of her breast, his thumb brushing over the erect, sensitive nipple. He pinched it and the pain/pleasure caused her to completely forget her questions about how/why/what was happening between them.

"Keep your arms up" he demanded as he released her wrists, dropping both of his hands to the waistband of her shorts.

He slipped one of those hands under the waistband; his fingers dipping between her legs, cupping her warmth.

"No underwear?"

"Seems like a wise deci….sionnnn, shit…, now."

He grinned before dropping his head to her breast, his tongue dancing across the tip, teasing the nipple that ached for his touch. As he mouthed her breast, he tucked a finger into her; and her back arched as she tried to give him better access.

 _Damn shorts!_ She cursed inwardly. Although… yes… he was definitely… Jesus, did he have to be so good with everything he did with his hands?

He let a second finger penetrate her, curving his digits upwards with each inward stroke.

"Derrrrrrek."

"Yeah Cal?" His lips were still pressed against her breast, his mouth echoing the strokes his fingers were taking below.

She cursed the shorts again because she couldn't move her leg enough to give him complete access without the waistband biting into her hips.

She nearly jumped off of the bed when he let his thumb pass over her clit as his fingers curved up into her….

He waited a few more moments… a few more strokes and he did it again.

He could feel her getting close. The sway of her hips quickening, trying to outpace, control the tempo of his strokes…. So he pulled his fingers out and released her nipple from his mouth.

"Nooooo!" Her eyes shot open at the loss of sensation. Sparks of lust and anger dusted the brown orbs. "Damnit Derek!"

He chuckled, "Poor baby."

She watched as he lifted a finger to his lips and sucked on it. A finger 'wet with her'. She then watched him take his fingers and slip them under the edge of her shirt, running them along the breast that he had been neglecting. Her nipple sparked with energy; energy that shot straight between her legs as he covered her areola with her wetness and his saliva.

He lowered both hands to her hips and pushed at her shorts, edging them off and on to the floor. And then he reached for the bottom of her shirt, edging it up and off of her frame. Within seconds, he was back at her, one hand on her wrists, his other hand between her legs, and his mouth teasing the flesh of her left breast. Her thigh finally edged up along his hip until her leg was hooked around his ass.

This time as his fingers delved into her, there were no impediments, and she was 'there' again with in seconds. And when his teeth closed around her nipple, biting and pulling at her flesh, Derek Shepherd made Callie Torres cum.


	3. My Piece of Chocolate Cake

Callie stretched across the bed and nudged the alarm clock so she could read it. With a yawn, she offered, "It's 6 am."

Her announcement ended in a squeal when Derek dragged her back towards him; his stubbled jaw rubbing against her shoulder. With a shiver, she gathered her resolve and reminded him, again, "It's 6am… conference… Yakima…."

"We could be late," his lips were at the back of her neck – nuzzling – teasing.

"We could?" _Resolve? What resolve?_

"We could. We could… find something else to do for half an hour. Or an hour. Or two."

Callie curved her frame into Derek's, her ass pressing against his definitive arousal. "What if Dr. Geuther is the first speaker?"

"Screw Dr. Guether."

"Rough rough words from poor Doct—Derek!" He'd slipped a hand between her legs.

"I'm a rough, rough man."

Callie snorted.

"What? You don't believe me?"

Between bits of laughter she ran her fingers along his arm before letting her hand join his between her legs. "Sweet, kind, intelligent, compassionate, I'd buy. But tough?"

"I'll have you know, I can bench press a manly amount of weights."

Callie turned over in Derek's arms; her breasts flush to his chest, a leg slung loosely over his hip. "Rough and tough you're not. But," she let her hand move down between their bodies until it settled, lightly, teasingly on his cock. "Dr. Shepherd, you have other skills, and traits, that… more than make up for that."

"No rough and tough huh?" His chest rumbled as he let her guide him into her.

"Mmmm, mmmhmmm, no. You're, huhhhhh, you're not rough and tough." Her body melded to his like cloth on skin.

Derek rolled them over, slowly, so that he was on top of her, his weight braced on his arms. "But I have other charms?" His mouth moved over hers.

"Yes - yes. Most hmmmm, definitely… other charms."

"I'm going to have to work on the rough and tough." His strokes were long, and sure and slow.

"Assertive." Callie breathed out.

"Hmm?"

"How about assertive? I can absolutely give you assertive."

As he lowered his head to Callie's left breast, Derek grinned. "I can work with assertive."

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

"Okay that was fabulous."

"Mama Spencer does know how cook doesn't she?" Derek glanced at Callie who sat next to him in one of the curved booths that lined a wall of the diner. They'd just finished off 2 orders of waffles: syrupy, whip creamy, strawberry covered waffles. If they'd thought the burger and fries last night were heaven, the waffles were from the VIP section of heaven.

His eyes moved from Callie's dark brown orbs, to her full lips, to the smudge of whip cream on her cheek. Reaching forward with his finger he pulled the dollop of cream off of her cheek. Holding his finger out in front of her face, he teased, "You missed some."

And then her tongue flicked out and quickly, innocently pulled the whipped cream off of his finger. She leaned back in the booth again. "Okay, NOW I'm full."

_And now I'm hard… again._

_43 yrs old Shepherd. You're 43 years old; is it even possible for you to get this many erections in a 12 hour period?_

The answer to that question was apparently 'yes'... when Callie was part of the equation.

Finishing her coffee with a happy flourish, Callie sighed, "I guess we should get back to the room and get the car loaded. We're already going to be 2 hours late for the conference."

She glanced over at Derek when he remained quiet. He had a grim… no… pained? expression on his face.

"Derek?"

"Yep."

"Leaving anytime soon?"

"Now would not be a good time to… stand up." His voice was quiet and controlled.

So quiet and controlled that it took Callie a few seconds to 'get' what he was saying.

But she did get it. And then she chuckled. "Are you kidding me? What are you, the energizer bunny rabbit? And what was it? The waffles? Mama Spencer? The red pleather of the booths?"

"It was Callie, with the whipped cream, in the corner booth."

"Me? What did I –?" And then she recalled the whipped cream on her cheek, and licking it off of his finger. "You…" she leaned in to him, "are easy Dr. Shepherd."

"So I'm learning."

"Tell you what," she slid out of the booth, "I'll go to the counter, pay our bill, and then I'll come back to the table and if the Shepherd's staff hasn't uh, changed direction, I'll be your cover as we walk out of here. Fair enough?"

"Take your time at the cash register."

She laughed. The husky sound and her full lips doing NOTHING to help his condition.

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

Callie walked up to the counter, her wallet in her hand, and eyed the chocolate cake that was sitting under a glass dome next to the register.

"Fancy a piece sweetie?"

Callie blinked at the sudden appearance of a sprightly looking elderly woman. "I was just talking myself out of having a piece. I had some yesterday, along with your apple pie – fantastic."

Mama Spencer, as the tag on her uniform read, tsk tsk tsk'd. "Well I'm glad you liked it darling. As for talking yourself out of it… why? You should enjoy the pleasures of life while you can."

"Tell that to my hips when they're the size of Texas."

"So you take a longer walk, or run for a little longer to work it off." Mama Spencer leaned across the cash register and whispered none too quietly, "and of course, if you have a cute looking man like you do," she glanced quickly at the booth Derek still sat in."You can find other ways to work the calories off." She chuckled saucily as Callie flushed.

"Tell you what," She opened the cake dish and cut a healthy piece of cake. "I'm going to give you this piece, on the house, for you and your young man to take back to the room with you. How you choose to work those calories off is up to the two of you, but the pleasure of a piece of cake, a new dress, even a new relationship shouldn't be denied because of 'what ifs'. You take the consequences and you work with them. Piece of cake, exercise vs constant denial. New dress, generic brand ice cream vs brand name. New relationship; how good it could be vs what others are going to think."

Mama Spencer looked up from her machinations and handed Callie the 'to go' cake. "Waffles and coffee, $10 dollars Sweetheart. Cake and advice… free."

Callie pulled her money out of her wallet before offering, "You can't always have what you want. There are consequences to …everything."

"Oh honey! Of course there are, and I didn't mean to suggest 'take till you explode'. What I meant was, you weigh your consequences and make your decisions. But always be aware that there are more options, more ways to solve a situation than 'just one way'. Take me and my husband, Eddie. No one, including him and me, would have thought we were meant to be. He was this tall blond Norse looking creature, whereas I'm someone who's darker than chocolate and have only ever dreamed of hitting 5 feet tall. We knew one another for two years before anything happened. And the, one day, I was sitting at the bus stop, waiting for the bus and he stopped by, started up a conversation, and something suddenly just clicked. Eddie and Marion suddenly realized that they liked one another. And let me remind you that back when Eddie and I were young, black and white didn't mix. So… we knew darn well there'd be consequences to any actions we took." She smiled brightly. "We have three children, and have been together for fifty something years now, and I wouldn't change a second of that time. I wouldn't change a decision I made about loving Eddie… giving him a shot. He's my piece of chocolate cake. I paid the consequences, and it was well worth it." She slammed the register shut and offered a saucy smile, "Now go grab that cutie back there in the booth and give him a shot… he's been watching you like a hawk watches its prey ever since you came up here. If nothing else, there's 'desire' with this one. Although, I'd lay bets on there being mor'n desire with him. He doesn't strike me as the type who lays his head down with anyone just willy nilly."

Callie wanted to tell her that she 'was Derek's willy nilly', that the two of them were nothing to one another… other than surprised bedmates. But instead, she thanked Mama Spencer and headed back to the table where Derek appeared to still be in a bit of distress.

Pushing the older woman's words out of her head, she teased Derek, "How's it hanging stud?"

He groaned. "Cute."

She smiled apologetically "Sorry, come on let's get out of this gin joint and… back on the road."

Derek gingerly slid out of the booth, holding Callie's purse in front of his body; and with her walking just a few inches in front of him, they escaped the diner.

Following behind Callie as they walked along the front of the hotel, Derek tried to distract himself from the physical reaction he was still, ridiculously, having to Callie. _You're a grown man Shepherd; you're a grown fucking man…... who apparently has the physical control of a teenage boy._

And it wasn't helping him now to be walking behind Callie. As she moved along the path to their hotel room he wondered how he had never noticed the sway of her bottom; the left right curve and dip of her hips.

Stopping in front of their room she pulled the key out of her back pocket, and pushed the door open. Dropping the key on the dresser she turned around to face Derek. "So I guess we better load the truck back up and hit the –"

She stopped speaking when Derek pushed the door shut, leaning against it with a smile on his face… and a look in his eyes. A look she'd seen a few times in the past few hours.

"Derek?" He pushed away from the door and moved towards her. She stood her ground… because she wasn't afraid. Really she wasn't. "Now Derek, we're already late for the conference; we really need to head out to Yakima now if we want to – to – Derek – Derek…."

Some battles were worth the fight, others, not so much so.

When Derek lifted his hand to Callie's cheek, letting it pass back behind her ear, she leaned in to the touch. "How are we going to explain missing a whole conference?"

"You know, my Land Rover isn't as reliable as it use to be." His hand was at the collar of her shirt, trailing down to the top button, which he flicked open.

"It is an old truck, almost as old as you," she teased.

"I'll remember that shot Dr. Torres," he was undoing her third button.

"I was just teasing!"

"And when I'm getting my payback, I'll just be teasing too. Probably."

His hands were under her unbuttoned shirt now. His thumbs taunting her nipples with little haphazard circles. Nipples that danced to full-fledged pleasure under his touch.

"Dr. Shepherd being assertive. Mmmmm."

He laughed and guided her backwards to the bed.

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

It was the next day before they finally left The Spencer Hotel; twelve noon. 

As Derek walked to the hotel office to pay the extended stay bill, Callie climbed into the truck; her fingers tapping on her thigh anxiously/nervously. Now that they were truly leaving the ridiculous, magical, reality-avoider that was The Spencer Hotel, Callie's brain cells were kicking back in. 

'I just had sex – wild, days long, pleasurable, toes tingling sex – with Dr. Derek Shepherd. SGH's golden boy. The SGH golden boy and me! What the fuck was I thinking? Where did my brain go? Was it too waterlogged from the rain? Was it the Cheeseburgers… some sort of aphrodisiac laced cheese? I KNOW there had to be something in the waffles, cuz…', she flushed at the memory of yesterday's post breakfast tryst.

But whatever it was it was… well…it was done. She took a deep breath and leaned over to unlock the driver's side door as Derek headed back to the truck. 

He climbed into the truck silently; starting the engine and backing out of the parking lot in one smooth move.

The ride back to Seattle was hushed. The radio was low, and Callie and Derek were, each of them, lost in their thoughts. It wasn't a painful silence. It wasn't tortured or dark. It was simply… wordless. 

Pulling to a stop in front of her apartment, Derek unlocked the trunk and climbed out of the car. The two of them standing at the back of the truck as he reached in and pulled her bags out. 

The first words they'd spoken in nearly three hours escaped from Callie's lips. "So… are we good?"

He slammed the trunk shut and leaned against it; looking at her – his face impassive.

"I mean… I like being friends with you, working with you. We… we didn't mess anything up, did we?"

'Friends.' He studied her face for half a second. "Yeah, we're good Torres. See you tomorrow." He pushed away from the trunk and headed to the front of the truck. 'Friends. That's good. No complications with being friends.' 

He slammed the door a little harder than necessary and drove away without looking back.

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

_Now_

"So wait, wait. Hold up. You had blow your mind, tingle your toes sex with Shepherd – which in and of itself is freaking the fuck out of me – but then, you let him off the hook?" Cristina blinked and stared at Callie. "What the fuck Callie? This wasn't even a one night stand, you know him, and you let him get away with… with… I mean girl! No one even knows you bagged him!"

"I didn't bag him!"

"You're carrying the living proof of having bagged him!" Cristina took a calming breath. "Look, Callie, I know you're kind of… weak… when it comes to relationships, but really, you can't be that dumb."

"If I was feeling better, I'd kick your ass for that statement, but I'll let it slide for now. What Derek and I have is not… was not… a relationship. It was… it was an arbitrary aberration. An anomaly. Reason and rationale and reality… all taking a vacation in the middle of a storm at a hotel that was the love shack version of the Bates Motel."

"You're deluded." Cristina held up a hand to stop Callie's denial. "You guys were friends before you fucked. Relationship. You fucked multiple times during a two day period." She tilted her head to the side, "Uh, Re. La. Tion. Ship. You're carrying his child. Motherload of relationships."

Callie was silent, which Cristina took as a win. "So for the last three months… the two of you haven't…?" she held the fingers of one hand up in an 'ok' symbol and pistoned the index finger of her other hand in and out of it a few times."

"There has been no more poking…, of any kind."

"Well that sucks."

Tell me about it.

"Have you guys talked about 'it' at all?"

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Denial, thy name is Torres. Well, you two definitely have something to talk about now."

"So you think I should tell him?"

Cristina stared at Callie.

"Okay, enough with the death glare. I was just asking.

"Want me to tell him for you?"

"Would you?"

"Jesus! No, I was just trying to see how much of a wuss you were. And the answer is big wuss. Big ole wuss. This is between McStupid (that's you, by the way) and McDreamy. But you need to tell him soon…. Cuz you'll be McShowing in another month or so."

"Fuck."


	4. Disclosure

**Day 77 After the Spencer Hotel**  
Yang: Did you tell him yet?

Torres: I'm workin' on it.

**Day 84**

Yang: Torres, you neeeeed to tell him.

Torres: Look, I can't just spring this on him… I need a plan.

**Day 90**

Yang: Look bi-at-ch, you need to grow some cojones and tell him!

Torres: I'm not a bitch… I… (sniff)… I just… (sniff sniff)

Yang: Aww crap! Fucking hormones! Stop crying…. Here have some chocolate.

Torres: (sniff sniff).

Yang: Don't think you've gotten out of it; you're telling him…soon! Even if it means I need to lock the two of you into a room together for the next 25 weeks.

**Day 93**

_Fate apparently agrees with Yang and plays her hand in 'helping' Callie tell Shepherd about the consequences of their actions._

Oommpf!

Callie held her forehead as Derek rubbed his jaw.

With a grin he shook his head slightly, "Nice running into you Torres."

"Yeah, literally," she smiled, and her smile only faded a little bit when she realized they were more or less alone in a corner. The first time they'd been alone… together since The Spencer Hotel. Okay, they'd been in the same space together once or twice since then, but never facing one another, just the two of them.

He crouched down and started to pick up the folders and papers that they'd both dropped when they crashed in to one another. From his spot on the floor he glanced up at her, "So, how have you been?"

"Good!" Chipper much? She toned it down and tried again. "Good. Worked on a reconstruction with Mark earlier this week, tough post-lateral reconstruction. I think we did a good job." _Nicety number one out of the way. My turn._ "And you, how have you been?"

"Busy. The Benson Siamese twin surgery; working on my Prince impersonations." He smiled, his head still bent to his task.

"If, at any time, you start singing Raspberry Beret, I'm taking you to psych."

She expected a chuckle, or at least a smile. But all she got was silence. Looking down she sucked in a breath of air; Derek was staring at one of the papers they'd collectively dropped.

Only, it wasn't a piece of paper, it was a photograph. A sonography photograph.

A sonogram marked: Torres, Calliope I. Week 12

_Shit._

"Were you… are you… is it…?" The words jumbled out of his mouth in an angry, confused, desperate manner as he stood up.

She backed away from him a couple of steps, suddenly feeling claustrophobic in the open hall.

She didn't back up nearly far or fast enough as Derek quickly glanced around the hall before grabbing her arm, and pulling her down the corridor and into a conference room. 

When he locked the door behind them and threw their papers onto the table - all of the papers except for the picture of the baby - she knew she was in trouble. More trouble.

"I was going to tell you. Really. I… it's just… it's hard to find a good time to tell someone – a friend – that the… the… the thing you had a few months ago has ended up being more than a simple 'thing'. That it's gotten bigger. That it's going to continue getting bigger." Her eyes pleaded with him.

"Twelve weeks Callie. You're twelve weeks. With," he ran a hand through his hair, "my child." He pulled out a chair and sat down heavily; overwhelmed with the reality that was facing him.

The room was silent except for the muffled sound of staff walking through the hall past the conference room.

_I should have left town. Quit. Sent him an email._

_She's pregnant. We're pregnant. I'm going to be a – fuck!_

They simultaneously broke the hush that surrounded them.

"I don't expect anything from –"

"You didn't tell me. Why –"

They went back to silence. Not talking to one another while they each tried to process the situation they found themselves in.

The fucked up situation.

Derek's mind kept bouncing between two things. One - He was going to be a dad. Two – Callie had kept the fact from him. And somewhere, lost between these two points, was the fact – faint and distant – that he hadn't been able to keep Callie Torres out of his mind since The Spencer Hotel.

He tried again. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why would I?"

He stared at her. "You're carrying my child."

She shrugged her shoulders. "A child you didn't ask for, from a… a 'tryst' with someone who, at best could be labeled a friend." She took a deep breath. "We're not in a relationship. I don't expect anything from you just because you contributed a little DNA to this experiment in life-humor."

He leaned forward, his hands teepeed on the table. "You're carrying my child." Each word was enunciated… punctuated... lasered at her. "I deserve…," he took a deep breath, "I had the right to find out about 'this' as soon as you found out."

"Look! When I found out I was pregnant, I wasn't even certain if… if I wanted to…"

Derek stood up his chair crashing into the wall behind him. "You're… you're not thinking about…?"

She was honest. "… No… I… no."

He moved along the table, his hand tracing the edge until he reached her side.

Callie remembered that she was brave... ish, and she made herself look up at him. Anger. Fear. Confusion. Anger. Confusion. Fear. Yeah, he appeared to be feeling pretty much the same way she did.

And then what she read in his eyes changed.

Standing as close to her as he now was, Derek breathed Callie in, his senses taking in her perfume, faint though it was. Lifting his hand to her face he let his thumb brush against her cheek. Still so soft.

Callie refused to close her eyes. Refused to lean in to his touch, even though at his caress, everything - everything - they'd shared came rushing back to her.

Dropping his hand, to his side; then stuffing both of his hands into his pockets, Derek backed away, putting space between them.

"I…" she started.

He interrupted. "I need to think… I… need some time to think."

She took a few steps away from him, and lowered her eyes; the guard she'd somehow dropped shifted back into place with alacrity. She bit out, "Of course you do. Fine. You just go and… think and… think."

"What's with the tone?"

"What tone?"

"The 'you're such an asshole' tone."

"Oh, you heard that huh?"

He stared at her - more anger than fear or confusion now lacing his features. "Are you kidding me?"

She wrapped her arms around her frame and looked up at him defensively.

"You tell me that you're…" he paused, "Huh, no, on second thought you don't even tell me, I find out on my own that you're pregnant and I'm supposed to know what to say? What I feel? What I want to do? Immediately? I'm sorry Callie, I don't know. I don't know how I'm supposed to react. Or how… how… I feel…." He lifted his hand to his hair, but dropped it back to his side with a bitter smile. Moving back around the table he shuffled through the paperwork he'd thrown down. Gathering his pieces, he opened the conference room door. "I'll talk to you… when I… when I figure stuff out."

LSLSLSLSLSLSLS

"I haven't cried this much in… ever." Callie's eyes were dry now, but she'd picked up the phone and dialed Addison through a flood of tears.

"Jesus Callie." Addison's voice crackled through the poor phone connection. "Sweetheart, you… Jesus!"

"Tell me about it."

"Okay, first things first, I want you to come down here so I can do a physical… unless it would freak you out to have me see your hoohaa."

"Nice scientific term."

"Shut up. So we'll get you in this weekend, go get some drinks… erh, coffee… decaffeinated, and umm, we'll talk. And you can cry as much as you want to."

"Will you tell me what to do?"

"Don't I always?"

Callie sighed. "He was so pissed."

"…."

"Ad?"

"… what? Am I really supposed to tell you that you did good here or can I be honest?"

Callie sat up and tucked another pillow behind her back. "Shit."

"Callie, Derek's a good man. You two knocked boots, which despite what you've suggested, he doesn't do lightly."

"But –"

"I'm telling you, he's not a one night stand kind of guy. But we'll skip that for the minute. You find out you're pregnant, what a month ago? And you don't tell him? Hunny, if you were carrying my child and didn't tell me? I'd be pissed. Hell, I'm kinda pissed at you for not telling me as it is, and we're just friends."

"Did you ever think that maybe he's upset _because_ I'm pregnant?"

Addison sighed. "How are you so clueless about relationships?"

"It's not a relationship! And you sound just like Yang."

"Now, that was just mean."


	5. Change In Plans

She paused mid sip and looked around the room, feeling eyes watching her. She didn't see anyone paying attention to her, or even looking at her, but… the eyes, attached directly to her conscience could still be felt. With a sigh, she put down the cup of mocha espresso and picked up the bottle of ice water.

Dumping the full cup of coffee into the garbage, she headed to the booth in the corner of the shop and sat down. She'd had a half day of work today and was now off. Off, of course, meaning she was still working, only this time, she was doing it from the comfort of home, or in this case, at Ground Hounds.

The coffee scent was both torturous and soothing, but the hum of people coming in and out of the shop, was definitely the perfect white noise. Flipping open her laptop, she pulled up her files and settled back with a sigh.

She'd made her way through one file when the light coming in through the front door was blocked from her sight. Looking up, she took in a breath and held it. Derek.

He looked as bad as she felt. Only… on him, it was sexy. Scruffy, stubbly pre-beard and his hair – usually so lush and wavy was sticking out in a couple of places.

"How are you feeling?" He asked as he sat down across from her.

"I'm go –," she frowned in confusion, "how did you find me?" Ground Hounds had great coffee, but it wasn't exactly a hospital hangout.

"Yang told me you'd probably be here."

She was silent, trying to read his eyes; all she could read was tiredness. _Good_ , at least she wasn't the only one who'd been sleepless in Seattle for the last week. Yeah, it had been a week since they spoke; since he found out about the baby. A week. Six whole days days.

She watched him lift his hand to his chin, as if suddenly aware that he hadn't shaved.

"When's your next appointment… with your OB/Gyn?"

"Next week."

"I want to be there."

Her heart skipped a beat and then another, before finally returning to its normal pattern. "Okay."

He picked up a sugar packet from the container on the side of the table. He spun it on the table with his finger and both she and he got lost in the moment, watching the white packet, and his finger, and the wooden table.

"I've always wanted to be a father. Wanted three… maybe four kids." He stopped spinning the sugar and looked up at her. "Of course, I thought I'd do it the normal way, date, engagement, marriage… kids."

Callie couldn't stop the flush that floated up her neck. "Sorry to throw you off your plans."

He peered at her, "The only thing you're to blame for is not telling me sooner that you were pregnant. The pregnancy itself…? the change in plans? That's you, me, and fate playing in the sandbox together."

"That's one fucked up sandbox."

He smiled for the first time in a week and began to spin the sugar again. The next topic he wanted to broach was going to be difficult.

"I'm going to sell my land. Look for an apartment or house closer to town…, something more kid friendly than the RV."

Callie's mouth dropped open as she tried to wrap her mind around Derek NOT living on his land.

"You can't sell your land Derek, it's… you love it."

"I'm having a child. I need to think about that first."

Guilt wracked her. Logically, she knew this wasn't her fault but… logic wasn't something she'd ever paid much attention to. Heart… yeah, that she followed like a dog on a leash. "What about building on your property? I mean, you can build a 'kid friendly' house and still keep your land."

"I don't want to live 30" away from my child. And honestly, I don't want to live 30" away from you… while you're pregnant, I mean."

Callie blinked. "Look, please, don't sell. Build. Build your house. I'll – we'll work something out. Maybe I can find a place closer to you."

"Are you… have you made any plans to move?"

She bit her lower lip. "I've been in kind of a holding pattern. Kind of motionless due to shock."

"Which is your long winded way of saying 'no'?"

She stuck her tongue out at him before taking a swig of her water.

Another smile graced his scruffy face. "You and the baby will definitely need a bigger place. A Yang free place."

"Yang was going to be my built in sitter."

"Yang would dropkick the baby if it cried too much."

"I was hoping to train her."

"Yang or the baby?"

"Whichever is easiest?"

He chuckled.

They sat in companionable silence for a few seconds. A companionship they hadn't felt in months.

"I could build a great house on that land; I mean, something a child would love to grow up in. Swing set, fort, big nursery. Maybe a pool."

Callie put on a mock frown. "Oh great, it'll be daddy's house vs mommy's apartment. I think you'll win the popularity contest."

"Only you're mommy. I won't even be able to compete with you."

She raised a brow questioningly.

"You're going to be an amazing mother. I mean –" he lifted his hands and held them up in a sign of surrender.

"You're not going to be too shabby of a father yourself."

A vision of Derek playing catch with a dark haired seven or eight year old passed through her mind. He would be a great father.

"So we have a mutual admiration society going on here."

"It would appear so." She passed her fingers over her keyboard a few times – aimlessly, not really typing, just feeling the keys. "Derek?"

"Callie?"

"…I'm sorry; about all of this… mess." She held up her hand to stop him from interrupting. "I'm sorry I changed your plans…. And, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you right away."

Her eyes were so beautiful; dark, deep, rich. He'd been lost in them before, when they were filled with pleasure. Now, they were rimmed with guilt. Guilt for things that were mostly not her fault. "You're a beautiful woman Torres. Sexy and smart – gorgeous. If you want to take blame for that, then go ahead, because those are the reasons I… we… well, I…" he took a breath, "Those are the main things that are to blame for my plans changing." He picked up the sugar packet he'd mauled during their conversation. Standing up he shoved the sugar into his jean pockets. "I'll call you later; solidify the information for the appointment next week."

Before she could thank him, argue with him, answer him… he was gone.

LsLSLSLSLSLS

"Your 'I'm not in a relationship with him' guy is on the phone again." Cristina held the phone around the door and into the bathroom where Callie was climbing out of the shower.

Frowning at Yang even though she couldn't see it from the other side of the door, Callie grabbed the phone. The day after meeting her at Ground Hounds, Derek had called her as promised, verifying the time and location of her OB/Gyn appointment. But he'd also called every day since then. Calling with stupid/sweet little things; like information on the recommended dosage of folic acid for pregnant women, and information on the optimal amount of sleep a pregnant woman should get…. Like she said, cute, stupid, sweet little calls.

"Derek? Hi." She grabbed a towel with her free hand.

"Hi. I'm not interrupting, am I?"

"Hmm, no, perfect timing, I was just getting out of the shower."

_We showered together. Her hair long and dark down her back, her arms around his neck, her breasts pressed against his chest, soft and -._

"Derek?"

"Hmm?" He cleared his throat realizing he'd drifted off into naked-Callie memories – again. "Oh, sorry, I was – thinking about a… patient," he finished lamely.

"Ooookay."

"I, um, you're off at 530 today, right?"

"Yes."

"I saw some ads in the paper, some apartments in North Bethelwood, and Bendingham, I was thinking, if you were free, and if you wanted, we could go take a look at them. For you and the baby I mean, they'd be closer to my land and, we could go get dinner after looking at them?"

The towel slipped from her hand. The apartment hunting was kind of sweet - kind of personal and intimate - but she could put it down to his desire to find a good second home for his child. The dinner. The dinner was freaking her out. Not that it really should, I mean, they both had to eat, but their track record of eating together suggested that food = sex. Either before, during, or after.

"Cal?"

 _He called me Cal. Jesus, I have the will power of a moth next to a flame._ "Sounds good. Umm, locker rooms at 545pm?"

He let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "See you then."

LsLSLSLSLSLS

"I was thinking about putting a connecting door here, easier access to the nursery. And I was hoping to make the fort a kind of miniature version of the house? Make it look just like the full sized version on the outside, but maybe make it 2-3 small rooms on the inside." They were sitting in Derek's truck, sketches and blue prints of his property surrounding them as they ate Chinese food out of takeout cartons.

Callie oohed and ahhed at all of the appropriate points, but she was admittedly paying less attention to what Derek was saying, than to how his lips formed around his words, and to how his Adam's apple moved as he spoke. Silently chastising herself, she pointed to the square on the other side of the nursery. "That's a pretty big closet."

Derek took a shallow breath, "This is the nursery closet, that… that's your room." He pushed on before she could speak. "I can put a connecting door there too, and then if the weather is bad, or it's late, you and the baby can… just stay over."

Seriously? He was too nice. Too sweet. Too damn cute. And before she knew what she was doing, her lips were pressed against his, and she was half in her seat, half in his. And it was as good… better… than her memory had told her it was. She let her lips move along his jaw for a second or two before she came to a nervous stop. "Thank you." And then she realized she was probably crushing him into his seat. "I'm sorry. I –"

Derek placed his hand at the back of Callie's head, holding her in place so that she couldn't pull away. Lifting his lips until they just barely touched hers, he breathed her in. Still cinnamon, still vanilla, still jasmine. "… still sexy, smart and gorgeous."

LsLSLSLSLSLS

 

"I'm so horny that carrot is starting to look sexy to me."

Yang spat out the piece of carrot she'd just bitten into and dropped the remainder of the carrot onto the table. "Thank you, and now carrots are no longer a part of my diet."

"I'm just saying. The crying hormones seem to have been replaced with the horny, 'jump anything that looks like a spare leg' hormones."

"Have you jumped Derek's spare leg… recently?"

"Yang!"

"What? I'm just saying, in the past week and a half, the two of you have spent more time talking and hanging out than any 'in a relationship people' I've ever seen. And you seriously want to tell me you haven't taken advantage of that?"

Callie only paused for a half a second, but a half a second was all Cristina needed.

"Fuck me! You two are doing it!"

"No! No! ... Not really."

"What the hell does 'not really' mean?"

"It means… it means we've been kind of making out… a little bit…." Four days of unrepentant, unexpected, sudden bursts of hands on, lips on, bodies on, mmmmmmmmmm-ness.

"So you haven't been riding his shift stick?"

"I haven't been riding anything, which explains the sexiness of your carrot."

"But you've been high school-making out with Shepherd?" Yang scoffed. "I sooooo don't get you. Either of you! He sees you and talks to you every day, but you deny it's a relationship. You two are making out on a regular basis, but you deny it's a relationship. Okay. I'm past the need to convince you that you're in a relationship — even though you so clearly are - let's just talk sex. He talks to and sees you every day, you make out on the regular, you're horny, he has the aforementioned spare leg, and you two aren't 'doing it'?" She picked up her carrot and took a healthy bite out of it. "I don't want to hear about your horniness anymore unless you're telling me how it's been satisfied by a big long firm piece of Shepherd."

Callie opened her mouth and Yang held up her hand to stop her from speaking. "Eh! Not a word. As a matter of fact," she braced her feet against Callie's chair and pushed. "Go… go to your appointment with your non-boyfriend, then go back to his place and get your mack on." She pointed toward the cafeteria doors with her carrot. "Go."


	6. It's Kind Of Scary

Derek stood back and looked at the stakes and paint outlining the shape of his new home. The construction company had come out yesterday and measured out and marked the basement and the first floor of the house.

It would be a great house. Large airy … beautiful.

But not quite what he'd wanted it to be. He'd always imagined building this house, or version of it, for… with… _his woman._ Getting her input on the size of the closets. Whether there should be a 5 jet or 7 jet whirlpool tub in the master bathroom.... Having her override his decision as to paint colours.

The house he built on this land was meant to be for 'us/we' not for 'him/me'.

At first his vision of the woman who would help him create a home had been nebulous. Faint shadowy – a dream woman to go with a dream house.

Then time went by.

He and Meredith began to do their dance. Dating. Breaking up. Dating. Breaking up. His faint shadowy dream woman started to take Meredith's cute, goodhearted, slender shape.

His dream woman had remained Meredith for four years; sometimes fainter, sometimes almost solid, but always identifiably, recognizably, Meredith.

And then, the dream woman started to fade. And he found himself unable to imagine or picture Meredith coming down the stairs to meet him at the front door. He couldn't imagine washing the dishes and handing them to her to dry. He couldn't see her in their bedroom anymore.

As her vision faded, their real life relationship began to fade. Or, maybe it was the other way around. In any case, his dream woman became faint and shadowy again.

… Until a certain Latina doctor burst into his life with a rainstorm.

Callie Torres.

He'd known her for years. Laughed at her humor. Thought her pretty… beautiful. But he'd never really considered her as…. And now?

Now Calliope Torres was driving him crazy.

Crazy in ways he hadn't known to be possible.... He was drifting off in the middle of meetings; thinking about her. Her curves. Her hair. Her smile.

And oddly enough he was drifting off… thinking about her laughter. Thinking about the way she said his name. 

He'd been having these thoughts for the past four months. They'd been almost unbearable right after they got back from their 'conference'. He'd had her taste, her scent, her feel on his mind almost continually.

But then a little time passed, and he was able to control his body and mind - at least during the day. After a couple of weeks he was able to bury his recollections of Callie until night time came. And then, in the dark, in the middle of his bed, he was tortured/pleasured by the memory of her again.

It was torture to not be able to actually touch her, but the memories…? Jesus, pure pleasure.

Then this past week happened. This week when they started working on the logistics of 'them' being pregnant, of 'them' being pre-parental units. Of them making out like teenagers whenever they had a minute alone. And what the hell was that? One second they were discussing his blueprints, eating a little Chinese, and the next second, Callie was kissing him. Pressing against him and reminding him that his memories were pale, pale comparisons of the reality that was Callie Torres.

Okay, it's not that he was complaining. Not really. Touching Callie, in any way, for any amount of time was a good thing. But there were two things wrong with their heated little make out sessions. The first – they didn't go far enough. They stopped; just when Callie was so pliant, so soft against him that he could swear she was about to melt, they would stop. And he didn't know why. Clearly, they'd gone beyond the petting/make out stage in the past, so why now? Why were they stopping now?

The second thing that was wrong with their little teenage assignations was that he didn't know why they were happening in the first place. Callie wasn't interested in him. Not really. He knew he wasn't her type. He wasn't the type that a delicious, sarcastic, tough woman like Callie would be drawn to….

_Delicious, sarcastic, tough… soft, beautiful, vulnerable... he definitely was not her type._ But apparently, somehow, Callie had become HIS type.

Callie, without warning, had become his dream woman. She was there, she was the vision; she was the woman who was in the shadows. Only… the shadows were gone. The vision wasn't faint. It was point blank, undeniably, full-bodily Callie.

And he really didn't know how it had happened.

Realistically he knew it made no sense - no sense at all - to spend two days with someone and then spend a week with them three or four months later, and abruptly find yourself in lo-… obsessed with them. But reality took a leap out of the window the minute Callie climbed into his Land Rover four months ago.

Taking a deep breath, Derek took one more look around his lot and headed to his truck. He had to get to the clinic to meet Callie for her ultrasound.

_Their ultrasound._

He didn't bother stopping the nervous smile that crept up his face. He was going to be a father.

The smile faded with his next thought. Too bad the mother of his child wasn't interested in him.

LSLSLSLSLSLS

"I have a question. And as a doctor, I feel kind of stupid not knowing this." Shepherd glanced down at Callie's now exposed belly. "Shouldn't she be… bigger? I mean," he used his hands to indicate the curve of a pregnant stomach. "Shouldn't she be…," only one word fit, "bigger?"

Callie looked from Derek to her doctor, "Él es ciego…, pero bonito".

Dr. Martinez chuckled before rubbing gel on the transducer. "Actually every woman is different. Some gain a noticeable amount of weight starting in their 13th week. Others don't see advanced weight gain until their 23rd week. Callie is just hitting her 16th week, so she has plenty of time for weight gain." Placing one hand on Callie's stomach she warned, "Okay Callie, this is going to be a little cold, just like last time." Dr. Martinez looked up at Derek before glancing down at the wand in her hand, and then at the sonogram monitor. "What's most important during the pregnancy is the fetal growth; that that is on track. At 16 weeks," her voice lowered as she slowly moved the wand along Callie's stomach, "we want your child to be just around five inches long from the top of its head to its buttocks…. And…." Dr. Martinez paused, "Callie, Derek, your child looks like it's the perfect size."

Dr. Martinez quietly continued to take pictures of the baby, tracking environment, size, and shape of the baby and Callie's womb. And she pretended she didn't notice Dr. Derek Shepherd taking hold of Dr. Callie Torres' hand.

lslslslslsls

Callie had just finished sitting up and readjusting her clothes as she aimed her incredulous question at Derek. "You really don't want to know the baby's gender until it's born?" They were waiting for Dr. Martinez to return with copies of today's sonograms.

"No. I don't want to know."

"How can you not want to know? I mean, wow, boy? Girl? Big question, little answer." She picked up her purse, and turned back to face him, "and again, I ask, how can you not want to know?"

Derek shrugged and leaned against the exam room counter. "It doesn't matter to me."

"It doesn't matter to you?"

"Not really." He sighed when he saw her face drop. Sensing a definite disconnect between his words and her understanding, Derek wrapped his hand around Callie's wrist and pulled her closer. "What I mean is, it doesn't matter to me if our child is a boy or if it's a girl." He lifted his free hand to her face, his thumb brushing her chin. "If it's a little boy, I'll hold him close and protect him. If it's a little girl, I'll hold her close and cherish her." He leaned forward and kissed her, a soft, appreciative, kiss. "All I want is for him or her to be healthy."

Callie's hormones had been overwhelming her at the oddest times. And at this moment, probably an inopportune, inappropriate moment, her lust hormone that kicked in. "Okay, that's just… hot."

Derek grinned down at her and glanced at the closed exam room door before pulling her closer. "What, um, are you doing this afternoon?"

Callie was breathing in Derek's aftershave and the heat of his body - pressed against hers – was making her senses swirl.

"Callie?"

"Hmmmmmm?"

He chuckled. Distracted Callie; Callie distracted by him… was a sight to behold. Her eyes got all big, and filled with… desire. And she became very single minded. Right now her eyes were on his lips. He liked it when she was single-minded.

He bent his head forward again rubbing his nose against hers a few times before he dipped his chin a bit and touched his lips to hers.

Knock knock.

The door to the exam room pushed open, "Okay, I have two copies for –" Dr. Martinez paused in the doorway. With a light chuckle she offered, "I'm sorry… I can come back if you'd like."

Derek and Callie pulled away from one another, a light flush covering each of their faces.

"No. No. That's… Derek had something in his eye."

Both Dr. Martinez and Derek looked at Callie incredulously for a few seconds before Dr. Martinez cleared her throat and continued what she had been saying when she first walked into the room.

"Okaaay, I made two copies of the ultrasound pictures, one for each of you." She handed the envelope to Derek and moved on to her final topic of the visit. "So any decision on whether we're sharing gender information?"

Derek looked at Callie, who looked at him.

She sighed. "Derek doesn't want to know. So, no," she sighed again, heavily. "Don't tell us."

Dr. Martinez smiled at Derek. "One point for you, Derek. It'll probably be the only point you'll score during the pregnancy, so… cherish it. Callie, I'll see you in a month for your regular checkup."

While Callie stopped at the reception desk and scheduled her next visit, Derek opened the envelope Dr. Martinez had handed him. Pulling out the black and white photo, he stared at the picture of his son or daughter.

"Much better picture than the last one." Callie peered around his arm, looking at the photo.

"Yeah."

"So… want to go apartment hunting with me again? This afternoon?"

_When's the right time to tell a woman – the wrong-for-you woman - that you'd do anything, at any time with her? ...All she had to do was ask._

Pushing the picture back in to the envelope, Derek draped his arm around Callie's waist and ushered her out of the clinic. "I'm at your disposal Dr. Torres."

She grinned up at him teasingly. "I have you wrapped around my finger, don't I?"

"It's kind of scary."

lslslslslsls

 

"I think the one on Westwood is it." Callie held the beer over Derek's prone form, a bowl of popcorn in her other hand. As he sat up and reached for his beer, she placed the bowl on the floor in front of the couch, and sat down in the spot his head had just vacated.

Half seated, half slouched on the sofa Derek took a sip of beer before placing the bottle on the floor next to the popcorn. It had been a long day: first steps of the house construction, the ultrasound, looking at four apartment complexes, keeping his hands off of Callie. Guess which activity was most tasking?

Yeah, you guessed it.

But now they were alone; just the two of them at Yang's place. Nothing else on their agendas.

He let his head drop to her shoulder and closed his eyes.

"Nuh uh, that's my remote control arm," Callie nudged his head from her shoulder, but soothed her words and actions by shifting slightly and tugging at him so that his head was in her lap.

He loved the way this woman thought... when he could understand her.

lslslslslsls

I hold the remote in my right hand and settle, both my hand and the remote, on Derek's chest. With my left hand I curl my fingers through his hair. Randomly massaging the slightly graying tresses.

"I liked the layout. It was pretty open. And I don't really need to use the dining room as just a dining room, I could put a small desk in there, make it a dining/office room." I release the remote and let my hand trail along the buttons at the top of Derek's shirt. Scootching down a little more on the couch I continue. "The living room was a really nice size, and I liked that the Master was across the hall from the baby's room."

Silence.

I crane my neck and look down at Derek's face. His eyes are closed, the lashes dark against his skin, his lips slightly parted, his breathing even and smooth.

I whisper, "Derek?"

No response.

Lifting my left hand to the top of his forehead, I lightly run my fingers through the curls at the top of his head. He was cute. Handsome even. He didn't have Sloan's chiseled features or O'Malley's boy next door features... no, Derek was a different kind of handsome. His face imbued trust, and good-naturedness, and sexiness. Derek Shepherd dripped sex. 

Oh, okay, he didn't drippppp sex, but he had it, right there, right in the mix with his trustworthiness and his good-naturedness. I study his face more closely. His nose didn't read as sexy, although, I lift my hand from his shirt and gently touch the tip of his nose, it was sexy, in its own way. I look at his chin. His chin wasn't sexy either, I drop my finger from his nose to his chin. Adorable, it definitely was an adorable chin. I smile softly as he shifts his head in my lap.

So where was the aforementioned 'sexiness' in Derek Shepherd? It was in his eyes. I'd decided that today. His eyes spoke; and they spoke in a way that could only be described as sexy.

As I stare down at him I sort of wish that his eyes were open now, so I could read them… listen to them speak.

Of course, I yawn and snuggle lower yet in my seat, if his eyes were open, I'd be doing anything but looking at them. I'd be looking at the TV, or staring at the wall; avoiding the temptation. 

With another yawn I lower my hand back down to his chest. Damn Derek Shepherd and his sexy adorable temptation.

lslslslslsls

"Oh holy spumoni, fuck a duck on a stick!" Yang tapped her foot as she stared at the adorable tableau before her. Derek stretched out on the couch, his head in Callie's lap. Callie with her hands on Derek's hair and chest, both of them dead to the world. "You two are in a fucking relationship. This thing you're doing," she waved her hand at their reclined, slowly wakening bodies, "is a couple thing! You're a fucking couple! Arggghhhh! I want flowers and lots of chocolate when the two of you finally realize I'm right!" With a sickened glance at the two of them, she stomped off to her room.

Only really hearing half of Yang's rant, Callie stretched and yawned. "What time is it?"

Derek sat up, scratched his head and blinked a few times, then glanced at his watch. "Wow, um, it's 0100. I should be," he yawned, "getting home."

Standing up, Callie held her hand out to him. "It's too late for you to go home now." She looked away from him. "Stay. I mean, you can sleep over… if you want."

He knew he needed to get a better grip on what 'they' were. Friends? Lovers? The line had been blurred and wasn't getting at all clearer.

Yeah, he knew he needed to get a better grip on what 'they' were; but not tonight. Tonight he was going to revel in the oblivion of blissful unawareness. Balance on the blurred line.

Taking Callie's hand, he followed her into her bedroom.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Él es ciego…, pero bonito = He's blind... but cute.


	7. Yummdelicious

Sex is good.

Don't let anyone tell you it's not.

Anyone who claims that sex isn't yummdeliicious is either not doing it right, or doing it with the wrong person.

Callie's sex life was indisputably yummdeliicious; she was doing it right and most definitely, she was doing it with the right person.

Derek made parts of her body sing that she hadn't even known existed. He made her insides – liquefy – with a touch. With a smile. Hell, with just a look.

It had been two weeks of melty boned, blissfulness for Callie. Two weeks since the night she'd let him 'sleep over'.

And honestly, that first night they HAD slept together. Just slept.

He stripped down to his boxers, his eyes never leaving her figure as she stood in her closet, her back to him, and stripped out of her bra and shirt before slipping into a red t-shirt. Shimming out of her pants she flicked off the closet light and headed to the bed.

Derek was sitting n the edge of the mattress and he watched as she pulled back the bedclothes. 'T-shirt and panties; really shouldn't be sexy. But on her… they were'.

She fluffed up her pillow and glanced at him, hiding the nervousness that his presence, in her room, engendered in her. 'Offense is the best defense.' "So are you planning on sitting there all night, or are you getting in?"

She skated under the covers, smoothing them around her as he hopped up and climbed under the sheets from the other side of the bed.

Reaching up, she turned off the bedside lamp and snuggled lower into the bed. 

For three seconds – she counted – they both remained motionless; both of them tucked safely and separately under the comforter and sheet.

'I've had sex with this man! I've made out with him innumerable times! I'm fucking pregnant with his child!' She gathered her nerves, and with a half whispered curse, she moved closer to him; not stopping until her head was on his shoulder and her arm around his waist.

It wasn't until he wrapped his arms around her that she began to breathe again.

When she woke up the next morning, she was still cocooned in Derek's arms; and he was sleeping, his mouth slightly parted, his hair twisted and wickedly adorable around his head. Burrowing closer to him she looked down. 

'Poor baby,' she thought as she stared at the teepee his morning erection was making under the covers. And a voice in the back of her head whispered, 'such a waste to let all of that go unused.' 

She'd later blame it on the fact that she was still half asleep, but she listened to that voice, the one nestled in the back of her head. 'It would be a shame to let a ready-and-waiting, at-attention cock like his, go to waste.'

Slowly pulling the sheet down his frame she awkwardly – baby belly – trailed her head down Derek's body. 

Derek woke up seconds later, his body reacting with enthusiasm to Callie's hands and mouth. His eyes flickered open and his brain connected – telling him that, this time, it wasn't a dream. He stroked her hair, the long dark waves stretching out along his stomach. The stomach whose muscles were clinching and releasing with every sensation Callie's touch caused.

Her tongue was flat against the bottom of his cock; draping along it as she edged her way up to the head and when she got there, she teased underside of the head with the tip of her tongue. She played there, sending his nerve endings into overdrive.

"Jesus, that's not fair," he moaned as she moved her head lower on her shaft.

"I can stop, if you'd like," she hummed softly around his length.

"No. No. Umm, I'm good."

She chuckled against him and he groaned again. 

Turning her focus back to his cock she shifted and moved her hand along his length. Her mouth worked at his head while her hands fondled his shaft and his heavy balls. 

Derek had been on hand duty for months now; starting and finishing himself off more times than he could count. So Callie, live and warm against him, was killing him. And killing him quickly. He wouldn't last more than a few more minutes, and if she was willing, he sure as hell wasn't going waste an opportunity to be with her.

"Callie…"

She was focused, very focused on his cock. He tried again. "Callie, honey… I need you to stop."

She heard him this time and simply shook her head in disagreement, working harder with her hands and mouth to make him cum. 

He curled his hands in her hair and pulled; dragging her firmly and irrevocably away from his cock. She mewed and hit him on the chest with a now free hand. "Hey! I was busy there!" 

He was still pulling her up along his frame, waiting until she lifted her eyes to his to offer, "I want you."

'Damn blue eyes,' she thought half dazedly. "You want me?" It was a stupid, lust hazed question. But it meant more to her than she knew.

"All of you."

And then she was leaning over him, his hand still lost in her hair, her hands on his chest, her lips tangled with his.

As they kissed she moved her hands to his biceps and shifted her weight so that she was straddling his hips. It only took seconds for his body to begin to throb again, longing for release. "Torres, I swear to God I'll make it up to you later, but Jesus Christ I need you now." 

She let her eyes pass over his before she gave in, and sitting up on his lap she reached for the edge of her shirt, pulling it up and over her head. She wasn't huge yet, the baby wasn't taking up as much space as it would, but she still felt – awkward - in her new body. Unsure of its attractiveness.

From her perch atop Derek, she found her sureness. Found appreciation of the curves, new and old that she had. She found that sureness and appreciation in Derek's eyes. 

Her breasts were fuller, heavier than they had been the last time he'd seen them; the effects of pregnancy. Her skin was still the same almond and caramel shade he'd dreamed of, and her stomach had a curve now that was more pronounced, more defined. 'Housing their child'.

His hands moved forward of their own volition and teased the peaks at the ends of her breasts. She drew in a breath and he paused. 

"Extra sensitive." She offered; another side effect of the pregnancy.

He nodded his head in understanding and moved his hands from her nipples to the fullness that surrounded them. Slowly his hands traced a path down her body to her stomach. "You're still sexy, intelligent, and beautiful."

'How does he always say the right thing? The thing that gets to 'me'?'

She slid off of the bed, and removed the last scrap of clothing she'd been wearing - her boy short panties - and without hesitation she climbed back into the bed; on to him.

"Still want me?"

"All of you."

She reached between them, moving until he was inside of her. 

She looked down at him as she slowly began to move her hips, reacquainting herself with his size, his feel. Her brown eyes were pierced by his blue ones at the same time that her body was pierced by his. She sighed as he shifted his body, his hands resting on her hips as he fought to last, in her warmth, her heaven, for as long as he could.

Callie leaned forward just a bit, changing the angle of their thrusts. And in response, he picked up the speed of his strokes. 

A soft music surrounded them; the sound of her small mewls of pleasure, and their bodies joining and rejoining. 

He was going to cum, in a second… in two. But it would be soon. And he wanted her with him. his thumb dropped to her clit and he pressed on it, pressed on it at the same time that he passed his other thumb over her hypersensitive nipples.

She threw her head back and froze; letting his body move beneath her as her insides clutched at him. Claimed him.

"Derek." Her voice was hoarse and her body limp as she felt him shudder and arch into her.

LSLSLSLSLSLSLS

So yeah, they'd crossed that line.

The mind blowing sex line.

Last time they'd done it – The Spencer Hotel weekend - 'it' had been unplanned. It had been the furthest thing from either of their minds. It wasn't the result of dating; it wasn't the result of hours of cunning preparation. There'd been no seduction. It just happened.

The very unplannedness of it all made it…different from what they were doing now.

That they were sleeping together again (in a non-sleeping/full on frontal nudity' kind of sleeping mode) was now a conscious decision. It was the difference between 'oops, sorry I fell on your dick' and 'how would you feel about having me as a woman' – in your life?

And to be a woman in Derek's life? She knew he didn't want that. How could he want that? She wasn't his type of woman in so many ways. And add to that the fact that she was already throwing his life into chaos with an unexpected pregnancy? There was no way in hell that Derek Shepherd was looking for someone like her.

And yet…

Two weeks. They'd been having sex again for two weeks. Her place during the week, his RV on the weekends. And it was amazing. It was sexy sex. Warm and hot and delicious sex. It was talking sex, laughing sex. 'I could spend the rest of my life with him' sex.

And Callie was scared as hell.

(())

She cut the carrots and spoke to him over her shoulder. "I told Bailey and Webber today."

Derek sat at the foot of his bed, watching Callie, literally barefoot and pregnant, cooking at his stove. He made the wise decision not to comment on irony of the situation and instead, he responded to her statement. "What did they say?"

"Bailey said, 'I didn't think you were getting fat, 'bout time you fessed up.', and Webber hemmed and hawed, congratulated me and awkwardly patted me on the shoulder." She popped a piece of carrot in her mouth.

Derek hopped off of the bed and moved to stand behind Callie. Reaching around her he picked up his own piece of carrot. He let the front of his body rest against her back. "Did you mention me?"

She stopped chopping and leaned her head against his shoulder. "I… I thought I should maybe let you do that. I mean," she put down the knife and turned around in the non-existent space between them, "we haven't really talked about whether you'd want any time off, or… if you'd even want anyone to know… about us." She trailed her fingers along the collar of his t shirt. "About us being co-parents."

"I'm not going to hide my being a father Callie. And I want to spend as much time with the baby as possible." He reached around her and grabbed another slice of carrot. "We can put an announcement in the hospital bulletin if you want to: 'Callie and Derek are soon to be parents'."

"Really?" She let a hand move to the back of his neck and began to massage.

He moved his hands to her hips. "Really."

Those lust hormones she'd been complaining about? Yeah, in triplicate now. "You have to stop saying things like that."

"Why?" He reached around her for a celery stalk.

"You're too sexy when you're sweet. Be mean."

He laughed, "Okay. Umm, how about," he wracked his brain for something mean to say. "Yeah, sorry, I'm at a loss. You're too perfect."

She slipped under his arm in a last ditch attempt to put distance between herself and his pheromones.

"I'm the size of a small cow Derek. Nothing perfect about it." In the last two weeks the weight that Derek had wanted her to gain, had appeared; enforce.

Derek opened his mouth to argue but she stopped him before he could speak. "If you tell me I've blossomed one more time, I swear to God I'll -"

He wrapped his arms around her and interrupted her, "You'll what?"

She melted against the rumble of his chest. "These hormones are so unfair." She stood on tiptoe and brushed her lips against his.

"I kind of like them." He walked her backwards towards the bed.

"You would; you're getting 'stuff' out of them."

"And you're not?" He paused at the edge of the bed, peering down at her and daring her to deny that she got pleasure out of being with him. He might not know how she 'felt' about him, but he knew she wanted him.

She blushed and grabbed the front of his shirt. Mumbling, she offered, "Okay maybe the hormones aren't all bad."

He grinned and followed her onto the bed.


	8. Now and Then

**Week 22**

Derek stood back and smiled. Last one done.

Callie was going to freak.

In a good way… he hoped.

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

She walked into the hospital in more of a state of dishevelment than usual. Getting out of bed, especially a tin can bed was tough. And this morning it had been especially tough. Derek had been scheduled to go on shift two hours before her and somewhere between his leaving and her wake up time, his alarm clock had died. She'd woken up to birds chirping, sun burrowing into the rv, and the sound of hammers, nail guns and swearing men yelling in the yard.

She fucking hated mornings.

Digging through her bag looking for a hair elastic, she missed the eyes peering at her. And she didn't notice the hush that followed her through the halls as she put her hair up into a loose bun.

Turning the corner leading to the attendings locker room she nearly ran into someone.

"Crap, sorry. I'm late. Not paying attention to where I was going."

"Sorry, I – oh, it's you Dr. Torres."

Callie focused on the person she had nearly run over. Elise Stail, a registered nurse she knew, but just barely.

"Hi." Callie glanced at the locker room anxiously.

"Hi. I – I just wanted to say congratulations."

Callie lowered her hand to her stomach almost unconsciously.

Elise's eyes followed Callie's movement.

"Th-thank you. Thanks." Her eyes darted around the hall self consciously. It had finally 'gotten out'? The general public knew? She tugged her lab coat closer to her body. "I'm sorry, I need to go, and I'm late… I – thanks."

Her mind was spinning. She knew eventually people would find out. But until now, she'd been in charge of the telling. Derek (okay he kind of found out on his own), Cristina, her parents (and yeah, that had not been a pretty conversation), Bailey and Webber. Controlled release of information.

But now…. 'People' knew?

She pushed into the attendings locker room and squinted her eyes in thought. Was Cristina blabbing? She was known to blab.

Big time.

Opening her locker, and shoving her bag inside, she moved to the mirror and quickly adjusted her hair; she needed to see Yang and find out if she'd been opening her mouth.

She had almost made her way out of the locker-room when she stopped short. There on the worn, old fashioned cork board that some people still insisted on using to advertise and search for things, was a giant piece of paper proclaiming her and Derek's impending parenthood.

Dr. Callie Torres and  
Dr. Derek Shepherd  
are expecting.  
~DS

DS? Okay. Maybe it isn't Yang's ass that I need to kick.

She opened the locker room door and headed out into the hall and this time, this time she did feel the eyes. Hear the silence. People were definitely looking at her. Unfortunately, she couldn't tell if it was with admiration or confusion. Were they mentally hi-fiving her for having 'bagged' Shepherd, or were they shaking their heads and wondering how the hell she ended up lassoing him into her bed?

She was laying bets on the latter.

She made it through most of the morning without choking on the thank yous or freezing from the 'icy' stares she could feel at her back. And it was almost noon before she finally found Yang, standing outside of the resident locker room.

Yang was grinning as she waited for Callie to join her. She was grinning a huge shit eating grin.

"I don't suppose there's a sign on the bulletin board in the resident -?"

Yang rolled on her feet, heel to toe, her grin getting even bigger. "Oh hell yeah! Big ass sign in there." She held her hands out to indicate the sign was impossibly big. "I heard he put one up in the third floor employee lounge too."

Callie hung her head and groaned.

"Reeee laaaaa tion shipppppp" Yang sing songed, before adding, "It's kind of cute. In a sickeningly warm, fuzzy, adorable way." She glanced at her buzzing pager. "Yeah, gots to go; assisting Dr. Able in a transplant. Umm, how's the new place?"

Callie blushed, she'd moved into her new apartment two weeks ago, and she could count exactly how many hours she'd spent there in those two weeks. 15 hours. 15. The rest of the time? She'd been with Derek. On his land. In his RV. In shorts or in his hockey jersey, in his bed. And, erh, those 15 hours in her new, fancy, barely used apartment? Yeah, she'd spent them with Derek.

She'd been stuck to him like glue. But if she was honest with herself, she wasn't the only one doing the sticking. Derek was doing some undeniable sticking himself.

Yang shook her head and laughed, "Torres, you're so whipped. I know it's normally the men who are whipped, but in this case, Derek has your pussy whipped." Turning she chuckled as she walked away from Callie.

She made it to her lunch table without incident. Apparently, the novelty of a pregnant woman in the hospital was dying down. That or her paranoia was receding.

She'd been seated alone for about five minutes, reading a journal article as she ate, when a tray was lowered on to her table. Expecting Yang or Karev, she looked up with a smile of welcome, and froze.

Meredith.

More than The Chief, or Bailey, more than her parents, the person she least wanted to have know about her pregnancy and her 'whatever it is' thing with Derek, was Meredith.

Callie's hand with her sandwich in it, rested midway in the air as she watched Meredith settle into the chair across from her.

"Sugar?" Her voice was tight, but a smile was stretched across her face.

Callie snapped out of her trance, and automatically handed the bowl of sugar packets to Meredith. She dropped her sandwich back onto her tray with a pronounced thud suddenly, no longer hungry.

She was also, suddenly aware of a hush in the cafeteria, and with a covert glance around the room with her eyes, she realized she wasn't paranoid. People, lots of people, at various tables were watching her. Them. Waiting for… what? A cat fight? Tears?

Shit.

"I have to go," she started to bundle up her journal and tray.

"Don't even think about it Torres." Meredith's words were stretched and thin, as if it actually hurt her to talk to Callie. "I didn't come all the way over to your table, just to have you get up and walk off on me."

Callie lifted her chin slightly, "then just why did you come all the way over here?"

Meredith's voice was quiet, but Callie heard it clearly, "I wanted to know how you did it. How – I tried to, we tried to make it work for four years, and you… how long have you been together?"

"I, we're not. Together I mean. I mean, we're clearly going to be together around the baby, but we're not -." Callie flushed as she recalled lying in Derek's arms.

Meredith was searching Callie's face, a look a disbelief lining his face. "You're lying. I know you're lying. I've seen him around the hospital the past few months. He's – happy. Relationship happy."

"He's baby happy." Callie countered. "He's going to be a dad; I'd hope he was happy."

"It's more than that. I know it's more than that." Meredith's face started to crumble at the same time that her voice grew stronger – not louder, but more convicted, more resigned. "I drove out to his place a month ago."

Callie stopped breathing.

"… do you know how important that land is to him? How much he's invested in it – emotionally?" she continued not waiting for Callie to respond. "He always said he'd build a house on that land with the woman he was going to spend the rest of his life with…. She stared at Callie. "He's building it for you."

Callie shook her head fervently, "he has a baby to think about now, he wanted –"

"Did he show you the blueprints?"

Callie nodded her head carefully.

"Did he let you make changes, to the drawings?"

"I just made a couple of suggest –"

"It's you. He's building the damn house for you!" She peered at Callie. "Derek. Mark. George. Have you wound Alex around your finger yet?"

"Fuck you, Grey."

"No, no really, I want to know what it is. Do you just spread your legs that easily, that quickly? Men and women falling at your feet, changing the way they act…, who they are. What is it?" Meredith's eyes raked over Callie, but her voice was almost begging, honestly puzzled… curious.

"Another comment like that, Grey, and the baby and I will jump across this table and kick your ass." Callie was riled. Fuck it, she was straight up pissed. It was one thing for her to wonder how the hell she ended up in the situation she was in; it was quite another thing for Lil Miss Grey to insult her with the same question…. To her face.

Her mind flew to George, "Maybe they like me because I listen to them; I don't ignore them and treat them like a half-person." She pictured Mark and smiled darkly, "or maybe they like me because I give them a chance, despite their reputation." Her voice hadn't been loud to begin with, but it dropped even lower, and her smile became capricious, playful "or maybe they like my curves, my dark hair," she shrugged and sat back in her chair. "Or maybe they like the fact that everything, _every **little thing**_ isn't an issue for me. I don't nitpick every little action, every little word, looking for fault in them."

Her energy suddenly gone, escaping her with her words, Callie closed her eyes and sighed. "I wish I knew how this happened. But I don't." She opened her eyes, suddenly sorry – immensely sorry – for Meredith. "I wish I did, but I really don't." Pushing back from the table, she stood up, picked up her tray and walked out of the cafeteria.

She didn't break down until she made it to the nearest bathroom, and then, she gave in and had a deep, body wrecking, soul clenching cry.

At 1830 she stepped out of SGH, and headed to her car. She was bone tired. She'd 'fake-smiled' more in the past nine hours than she'd done the total of her whole life.

She'd also spent the whole day evading Derek. She'd gone from briefly wanting to kick his ass, to wanting to kiss him senseless, to wanting to avoid talking to him at all costs.

She didn't want to yell at him anymore, instead, she wanted to curl up in his arms and have him hold her tight. But she couldn't, because of the fear. Fear that Meredith was sort of right. Derek and she had made love the first time they spent more than two hours alone together. She had parted her dimpled knees for him quickly. And then she'd told him she was pregnant. They hadn't wooed or courted one another. There was nothing between them, other than a night of sex … and a new life.

Her fears that she'd simply captured him, forced him to be the gentleman he so consummately was, had been stirred up — hell they'd been tornadoed up - today.

Derek… Derek was doing the right thing, remaining involved in his child's life. And that, in part, meant he needed to remain a part of Callie's life. It was as simple as that; she'd been stupid to forget that fact.

She sat in her car for a few seconds; glancing down at her silenced cell phone she saw that Derek had called once again. Four times today, and she hadn't responded yet.

Starting the engine, she backed out of SGH's parking lot, a look of determined avoidance on her face.

LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS

 

It was 2100 before Derek left the RV and climbed into his truck. After several attempts to reach her via her cell, he'd called the hospital to make certain she wasn't still there.

"No she left a couple of hours ago."

He called her apartment, and got her machine.

And then he began to pace.

What if she had an accident?

What if something was wrong with her? Or the baby?

What if she was pissed because he put the announcements on the bulletin boards?

Hoping it was the latter… sort of, he decided to try looking for her. Making her apartment the first stop.

Using his emergency key to unlock the apartment door, Derek almost sighed with relief when he saw Callie curled up on the living room couch, a melted container of chocolate Haagen-Dazs on the table beside her.

He moved from relief to anger in about 2.2 seconds.

"Torres!"

She stirred slightly.

"TORRES!"

"Hmmm? What? What?" She sat up with a start, confused as to where she was (that's what she got for spending no time in her own apartment). She blinked in Derek's direction a few times a smile lighting on her face before she recalled why she was in her apartment, versus at the RV. "Oh."

He softened his tone a bit. "Are you all right?"

"Wha-" _oh crap! I had him worried about me… about the baby. Shit._ "I'm fine. I'm sorry."

"Okay Torres, one rule, non-negotiable. I don't care how pissed you are at me, or at the world, or at the penis carrying members of society. If I call, I need at least a text back. The text can say 'F-U', it can say 'not talking to you'; I don't care, but I need to know that you're all right."

"I meant to call." _Liar_. "But, -"

"No excuses. This is the only rule I'm probably ever going to put in to place. I need you to respond one way or the other when I call. Got it?"

 _I kind of wish he did care. About me. As more than the vessel carrying his child._ She looked up at him, tears just edging her eyes. "Got it."

Tears. He couldn't handle a crying woman. It was the ultimate weapon. Stronger even than sex.

He moved to the coffee table, sat down on it and leaned forward and peered at her. "What's up Callie?"

She sniffled …. How can a woman resist a man who tempers his anger when he sees she is upset. Tempers his anger and tries to help her.

Yeah, she can't.

She sniffed again.

He chuckled then asked the question he wasn't certain he wanted to know the answer to. "So, why are you hiding from me?"

 _Grow a pair of balls Calliope, tell him. Tell him that no one, including you, understands why they ever got together, even for a night._ "I'm not hiding."

"Liar."

"I'm strategizing; reconnoitering so that I know where best to attack from."

"Are we at war?"

She smiled faintly, _Love, war. Were they so different?_ And then she blanched. _I don't love him. I don't._

He reached forward and brushed a strand of hair back behind her ear, studying her face. "What's going on in that beautiful brain?"

"I had a tough day today."

"And that's why you're hiding from me?"

"I wasn't –," she sighed and gave up. "Yes. And no."

"Clear as mud."

"It was sweet," she smiled, "it was really sweet." She stood up and started to pace. "But, didn't you feel like people were looking at you all day long? Staring?"

"A couple people stared."

"And it didn't bother you?"

"I'm a good looking man."

She tilted her head to the side with a groan, "You need to stop hanging out with Sloan."

He laughed again and switched from the coffee table to the couch. "Callie, a couple people stared or whispered, most people came up and congratulated me. I'm assuming you went through the same thing? What's the big deal?"

"And it really didn't bother you? To have them staring at you, wondering how," she waved her hand between them, "this happened."

"No." He smiled. "I have to admit to sometimes wondering about 'this' myself." It was as close as they had ever come to talking about what this thing between them was. "But as long as we're good with it, who cares what anyone else thinks?"

She smiled at him sadly, "Meredith still loves you." She watched his face for an echo of sentiment, or pain.

"I still love her too." He paused and rephrased himself. "You don't spend four years with someone and just stop caring about them. I love her; I'm just not 'in' love with her." He frowned, "Why are we talking about Meredith? Did something happen today?"

"Nothing big, we just had a little showdown in the cafeteria."

"Did I miss a food fight?"

"No. She just made it pretty clear that she still thinks you two belong together. And… and… she, like everyone else who stared at me and you today, don't get 'this'."

Derek reached for Callie's hand as she paced in front of the couch. Tugging her lightly, so that she moved toward him, he pulled her down on to his lap. "So, you're hiding from me because no one gets how we ended up like this?"

"Don't patronize me Derek. You're a boy. Boys don't feel stares, or hear whispers the way girls do."

Derek tried not to laugh. "Male and female equality stops right at the door of stares and whispers huh?"

She frowned and tried to push away from him. He tightened his grip on her wrist and arm.

"No running."

"Pfft."

He took a deep breath, "I don't know how 'this' happened. And you apparently don't know how it happened either. But it did, and I think that what we need to focus on is: where we are now. What we are now." He leaned forward and pressed his lips to her shoulder. "So Kitten, let's talk about now. About us."


	9. Relationships

Derek settled next to her, staring down into the empty amphitheatre.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before he broke the hush.

"You do know we broke up, right?"

"I know."

"Then what was yesterday?"

"Temporary insanity?"

"Temporary?"

She smiled lightly.

"We _are_ finished Mere."

She was silent.

He continued, "You know we didn't make each other happy. Not in the end. Not the way we use to."

"You made me happy!"

"When I wasn't driving you crazy," He turned to face her, studying her profile. "And I drove you crazy a lot."

"I loved your kind of crazy."

"Mere…."

"I wasn't ready to let you go." Her eyes were on his hands. "I'm NOT ready to let you go."

"It's been over for almost two years now Meredith. We've been… it's been nearly two years! Did I at any time lead you to think I was coming back?"

"You might have come back, maybe if she –"

"Don't!" His voice was forceful, intense. "Don't bring Callie into this."

"But –"

He lowered his voice, "I was never the man you wanted me to be Meredith. I'm not perfect. I have and will continue to make mistakes. I'm only human."

"… I didn't expect anything more of you."

"But you couldn't accept anything less from me either."

"And she does? She accepts all your little… flaws?"

"I came here to talk about us Mere, not –"

"Yeah well, Torres is apparently a part of 'us' now."

He didn't want to be cruel. He didn't want to hurt her, but, "That's just it Meredith. There isn't an us anymore. There's no more 'you and me'." He stood up and moved to the door, stopping when he reached the entrance. "I love you Mere, but I'm not in love with you. It's done."

"Do you love her?"

He smiled, one of those little smiles that say so much. "She's where I want my home to be."

LSLSLSLSLSLS

Mark pushed into the on call room, stripping off his lab coat as he entered. He came to a surprised stop when he saw Callie, eyes closed, earbuds in, iPod resting on the curve of her stomach, curled up on a bed.

Walking over to the bed, he sat down on the edge; when she opened her eyes in surprise, he silently indicated that she should move over.

Scooting back so that she was against the wall, Callie watched Mark settle onto the bed next to her, his hands locked behind his head, and his legs crossed at his ankles. With a sigh he closed his eyes and relaxed.

Giving her head a little shake, Callie pulled her earphones out of her ears and spoke. "Comfortable?"

"Shhh, I'm trying to nap."

"And you had to come all the way over to my bed where 'I' was resting to do that?"

"Had to? No. Wanted to? Yes."

"How is your new girlfriend, what's her name? Penny? Priscilla? Pansy? –"

" – Pilar."

"Right, right. Pilar. How's Pilar going to take your sleeping in the same bed with another woman?"

Mark opened one eye and looked over at Callie. "We've only been seeing one another for a few weeks. She'll be fine. You, on the other hand, should maybe be asking yourself how your 'boyfriend', Dr. Shepherd, would feel about this." He closed his eye.

Mark had found out about Callie's impending visit from the stork at the same time that the rest of Seattle Grace had found out, i.e. a couple of days ago when Derek put his announcements up on the hospital bulletin boards. So she wasn't surprised by the slightly hurt tone in his voice.

"I was going to tell you." His eye opened again, and she added sheepishly, "eventually."

"Right."

"Honestly Sloan. Could this be more awkward? Your best boy friend is the father of my child."

He closed his eye. "'Male' friend. Don't say boy friend. Could lead to misconceptions."

She smiled and hit him lightly on the chest.

Keeping his eyes closed, he asked, "So how did all of this happen?"

"Standard, basic process: Penis, vagina. Sperm, egg."

"Smart ass."

"It's better than being a dumbass."

They lay in silence for a while. Then he broke the hush, a grin spreading across his face as he pondered, "So Torres, having sampled both the Shepherd's Pie and the Sloan Bone… which is more satisfying?"

She hit his chest full force this time.

"Ow!" He chuckled as he rubbed his chest. "Not gonna answer that huh?"

"Are you sure you WANT me to answer that, Mark?" Her lips curved into a smile when he opened his mouth then quickly shut it.

"Next question…. Is my bro keeping my ex-ho happy?"

"Call me a ho again and you will get an atomic nipple twist."

He covered his nipples with his free arm and scootched a half an inch away. "Okay, is the gentleman keeping m'lady happy?"

In the few ensuing seconds of silence Mark opened both of his eyes, turned his head and peered at Callie. She was blushing. Her glowing, contented, happy blush. And suddenly he remembered why he loved her… why she was his best friend – of any gender. "He makes you happy."

"Have you asked him if I make HIM happy?" She muttered as she fought the stupid blush.

"No need. If he's with you, he has to be happy. It's unavoidable."

And the blush was back full force.

Mark added, "I am going to have to do the big brother thing and warn him that if he hurts you, I'll have to kick his ass."

"Sloan…."

"Then I'll buy him a beer and congratulate him for being one lucky son of a bitch."

She ducked her head and smiled, "Thanks Sloan."

"Anything for my best friend."

LSLSLSLSLSLSLS

Derek knocked on the door and waited impatiently for Callie to answer.

When she did, she smoothed her hand over her unignorable belly and smiled at him nervously.

"Hey Cal, you look…" _phenomenal, amazing, delicious,_ "great."

"… For a walking house."

He shook his head in defeat, the fact that she was beautiful, with or without a baby belly, was an argument he didn't know how to win. So he was picking his battles, and tonight's battle was 'date night'. "Ready?"

"This is – dumb." She slipped her feet into her shoes and grabbed her purse from its hook.

"No it's not." He helped her into her jacket, "We've had sex.... Great sex.... Really, really, great sex. Really really –"

She nudged him and smiled, "I get the idea."

He grinned, "Yeah, well, okay, I just wanted to make certain you were aware that we've had some phenomenal sex, and we've made out like bunnies," he closed and locked her apartment door behind them. "We're going to be parents. We're building a house, and through all of that, we've never been on a date." He placed his hand at the middle of her back, "Something's wrong with that picture."

She muttered under her breath, "You only seeone thing wrong in all of that?"

Stopping beside her when they reached his truck, Derek turned her to face him, "We don't have to do this you know. But…," he pushed a stray strand of hair away from her cheek, "I thought you wanted to work on figuring out what we have. If we have anything?"

_What if we don't have anything? What if it's all just a momentary freakish anomaly? Fuck._

"You're right." She curled his hands behind his lapel. She decided to play a little dirty, and letting her hand trail up his neck, she ran her fingers over his Adams apple. "Of course, you've had a really really long day, and I totally wouldn't hold it against you if you wanted to put tonight off… stay in… I could make us some steaks; we could curl up in the bed with ice cream…."

He groaned, "You're pulling out the big weapons, kitten."

She bit her lower lip, "are they working?"

He stepped closer to her, letting her feel his arousal.

She smiled into his shoulder, "That's a 'yes'."

"Yes… and no." He pulled away from her with an effort and opened the passenger door of the truck. "I'm going to rain-check you on the at-home, steak and ice cream, bed feast." He helped her into the car, "Right now, I want to go out with you. See you by candlelight; watch you eating something you didn't have to cook."

"We could order out and I could light a couple of candles," she offered with a pout.

He walked around to the driver's side of the truck, and climbed in beside her. Turning to face Callie he offered, "I want to show you off."

She stared into his blue eyes and for once, for just a second, she believed him. She believed that he found her pretty, that he was happy being with her. Being pregnant with her.

Lassoing in her runaway emotions, she pulled her eyes away from his and pulling her seatbelt down around her, she lightened the mood, "so, just to make certain I fully understand the rules of this little, 'let's date' thing we're doing, we can still have sex, right?"

Derek grinned and started the car.


	10. Hope

**Week 35**

"I don't waddle."

"Dude, you waddle." Alex sat his tray down on the table next to Callie's, and yelped when Yang kicked him. "What the fuck was that for?"

"Never tell a woman she waddles."

"You said it first!"

"Yes, but I'm a woman. Women can say shit like that to one another, boys cannot."

"I swear there are more double standards in this world created by chicks than were ever created by men."

Yang turned back to face Callie, "But, yeah, you are waddling."

"Fuck."

"One dollar please." Yang held out her hand, and watched as Callie reached into her pocket and pulled out cash.

"You're still doing that?" Karev dug through his salad looking for something appetizing.

"She needs to stop swearing before the baby is born. They pick up words and behaviors quickly. And Callie's words…? Not good for a child."

"It's the dam-rn Braxton Hicks. I swear, women shouldn't be forced to have pre contractions and contractions. They make me cranky. And when I'm cranky I drink and swear."

"And since you can't drink…?"

"I've doubled up on the swearing."

"Think of it as adding to your baby's college fund."

Callie gave Yang the finger. When Yang held her hand out expectantly, wiggling her fingers for more money, Callie shook her head and responded, "Nope, sorry, that's not a swear word."

Yang shrugged and looked down at her brownie, "speaking of sitting on it and spinning… where's McDreamy? Has he given up following you around the hospital like a puppy?"

"He's not a puppy; he's a concerned father to be." Callie dropped her fork on to her plate, "And he was driving me crazy…, so I gave him an assignment."

Yang raised a brow as Karev grinned, already aware of where Derek was spending his free hours.

"What? What assignment?"

"The nursery. I'm being a pain about the nursery. He's spending all of his free time at the house trying to make it perfect."

"And?"

"And I'm keeping him busy…. I keep changing my mind about the paint color. Last week it was greens, the week before, it was yellows."

"And this week?"

"Purples."

"That's kind of mean." Yang offered.

"Kind of mean?" Karev sipped his coffee. "You women find a switch on a guy, and you'll flip it until it breaks." He looked at Callie, "let the guy be near you. He's crazy about you, you're carrying his child"

Callie sighed, "He can be near me. I- I want him near me, but, Karev, he was following me to the bathroom. I don't really want him near me then."

Karev chuckled. "He's definitely whipped."

"He's not the only one," Yang offered.

"Shut up, Yang."

Karev sat up. "Spill, Yang."

"She makes dinner for him every night."

"Not every night."

"Every night that isn't 'date night'."

Callie put her hand on her belly, soothing the baby who was trying to stretch, find more space. More non-existent space. "He works hard."

"Yeah," Karev offered, "painting nurseries over and over again."

"And we're not talking pizza in the oven dinners. We're talking full fledged steaks, and pastas and casseroles." Yang arched an eye at Callie, "You never cooked shit like that for me when we lived together."

"You never hit my g spot."

"Whoa!" Karev slid back in his chair and held his hands up. "TMI ladies. TMI."

"Oh please, you're eating this shit up." Yang responded, then she turned to face Callie with a sniff, "and, if I'd ever attempted to hit your g spot, I would have hit it, and hit it hard."

Karev leaned back into the table. "Okay seriously, anytime the two of you want to ratchet this flirtation up to reality, I'd be happy to watch it… or film it… or partake in it… just let me know. I'm there."

Both of the women lifted a hand and gave him the finger.

LSLSLSLSLSLSLS

Derek turned off the radio and stared at the wall, paintbrush in hand and ruminated. It was probably too pink. Or too light. He took a step or two back and sighed. Dropping the brush, he ran his hand through his hair, then cursed, realizing he probably just left a streak of 'lavender light' in his hair. Picking up the paint pan and the brush, he kicked off his sneakers at the door of the nursery and headed downstairs to the garage. Rinsing the pan and brush out – because he was pretty certain he was going to need them again – he glanced at the clock radio to his right.

Callie would be home soon. He wondered if he had enough time to order dinner in. Callie was an amazing cook, but he wanted her off of her feet, especially now that they were in the last four weeks of the pregnancy.

Turning off the water, he walked back into the house and headed to the computer. Pulling up the online menus he flipped through some of their favorites before settling for the ma and pa restaurant a few miles down the hill. The food would be good and it wouldn't upset Callie's stomach.

Picking up the newly installed phone, he dialed the restaurant's number as he stood up and started to pat his pockets down for his cell phone. Unable to find it, he listened to the dial tone as he paced the finally finished house. They'd moved in three weeks ago. And while they were still painting and ordering furniture, the house itself was done.

He hadn't asked her to move in. Not in any official manner. They'd simply taken the dating, and the sleeping together, and the being together, from the RV, to the house. The RV was now happily parked in a shed behind the garage, while Callie and he were happily entrenched in the house.

"Yes, I'd like to make an order for delivery…. Yeah, sure." While he waited for them to find a pen or help a customer, or whatever, he tried to remember where he'd last seen his phone. 

Coat. 

_Where'd I put my coat?_

Heading back up to the nursery he stood in the doorway. He actually kind of liked this color. He was going to have to see if he could get her to keep this one. Yeah, he knew Callie was changing her mind about the nursery color in order to give him something to do; in order to make him feel useful, and he was okay with that. He knew he had been kind of overbearing, kind of overwhelming, for a few weeks there; following her everywhere she went, making certain she wasn't walking too much or standing too much, or doing anything too much.

He was lucky she hadn't knocked his head off.

No, instead, she made him paint. And paint. And paint a little more.

Reaching into the room for his jacket, he spoke to the waitress who'd come back to the phone. "Hi, right, yes… 2 orders of your broasted chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, chocolate cake." He waited as she read his order back, "1256 Westwood Ln…. right. Right. Okay, thanks." Shutting off one phone, he reached into the pocket of his jacket and grabbed his cell out of his pocket.

It was lit up like a Christmas tree.

Flipping it open, he started heading to the garage almost automatically. 'Call me – Callie'. '911 – Callie'. 'ER – Callie'. Then, the calls from Callie stopped and the next two recorded on his phone were from Yang, and… from Bailey.

He dialed the hospital as he backed the truck out of the garage.

LSLSLSLSLSLS

"Where is she?"

"Shepherd, she's fine."

"Where is she?"

"Shepherd. Derek!" Bailey grabbed his arm, "I need you to calm down. If you don't calm down I'll have security remove your ass from the hospital. Callie needs you to be calm. SHE needs to remain calm, if you go in there all… all blustery and he-man-y she'll get emotional and upset, and we just got her to relax a few minutes ago. Got me?" He slowly nodded his head, and Bailey released her amazingly strong grip on his arm.

Glancing around them she looked at the staff that were staring at them. "What! The man's going to be a father. GO back to work!" Grabbing Derek's jacket she started to pull him down the hall filling him in as they went, "She was complaining of contractions all day long. She - we all thought - they were more Braxton Hicks. But her water broke at around 1500."

"It's too early."

She shot a look at him over her shoulder but refrained from calling him an idiot because she knew he was in shock. "She tested for streptococcus. Dr. Martinez is going to need to induce."

He said it again, unable to stop himself, "It's too early."

Pulling to a stop in front of a room, Bailey shook her head, "Okay, master of the obvious, get a grip and go in there and keep Callie calm. Can you do that?" Looking up at him she gathered her patience. "Derek, go be with Callie."

Derek pushed in to Callie's room, his hands in his pockets because he didn't know what else to do with them.

"Cal?" Her eyes were closed and the lights in the room were dim. He took a few steps closer and tried again, "Callie, baby."

She blinked and opened her eyes, tears rising against her will. But she was still Callie, scared shitless or not. "Where the hell have you been?"

He smiled. _That's my girl._ "Painting the nursery, again."

She flushed. "And where the hell was your phone while you were painting?"

"Muffled by my jacket…, and the radio; Prince Retrospective."

She smiled.

"Sooooo…?"

"Guess they weren't Braxton Hicks."

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Now? I'm fine. I'm doped up up to here." She lifted her hand and let it drop back to the bed.

"And… the baby?"

"They're probably going to have to induce me," her nostrils flared, the only sign that she gave that she was afraid, but he was at her side in a second. He wrapped his hand around hers and leaned forward, kissing her forehead.

"You'll be fine. The baby will be fine."

"I know." She sniffed. "There's a 90% chance that the baby will be fine. So… so it'll be fine. We'll be fine."

He ran his thumb along her cheek, knowing that both of them were scared to death of the 10% chance that their baby wouldn't be fine.

"When are they going to do it?"

"You got here just in time. They'll probably take me in another couple of minutes."

He glanced at his watch without seeing the time. "Move in with me."

She gave him a confused look.

"We've dated, and had sex, and… we're having a child. Move in with me."

She laughed, a little laugh. "Aren't we already, kind of living together?"

"Let's make it official. Give up your apartment; the RV has been put away. Move in with me."

Her throat was closing. She couldn't speak. She could barely breathe. If he'd asked her yesterday, she would have jumped his bones. But now. What if… of course everything would be fine. The baby would be fine, but… what if…? "Ask me tomorrow." Her voice was low.

"No. I'm asking you now." He wanted their child. He wanted their child to be perfect and whole and as beautiful as its mom. But… if… if for some reason, that couldn't be?He still wanted Callie. And he wanted her to know that. "Move in with me."

"Derek."

"Simple question Callie."

"Derek." She looked up at him. His jaw had that determined tilt to it. and his eyes were still blue and beautiful. And… and she was on drugs, which could be her escape clause. "Fine! Fine. I'll move with you."

He bent his head to hers and kissed her. A kiss that held hope.


	11. Reason

_I figured it out  
I was high and low  
and everything in between  
I was wicked and wild  
baby, you know what I mean  
till there was you  
yeah, you_

Appropriate flight wear? Sweat pants, t-shirt, baseball cap. And normally, that's exactly what she'd be wearing. Comfort was big for her. Biiiiiggggg!

But today wasn't a normal day. Or a normal flight. Today, she was flying from Miami to Seattle. She was flying home. To Derek. And she was happy. She was happy to be coming 'home'. Being in Miami, with her parents and brothers, had reminded her how special loving another person could be. And, no, she still wasn't positive that Derek wanted her – for good… for keeps – but she wanted him. And if she could talk him into keeping her, manipulate him into keeping her, blind him with her boobs into keeping her… she was going to do it.

Hence the fitted black sweater, the black dominatrix boots, and the kiss-my-ass black jeans. The black jeans that fit her still curvaceous, but now baby fat free, body.

She looked over at Erynn Paloma Shepherd, finally asleep in her carrier in her own seat on the plane. Their daughter was beautiful. Just… breathtaking. Even her cries, which were loud and an utter pain in the ass at midnight, were beautiful.

Callie lifted her hand and ran her fingers through her three month old baby's hair. And yeah, she had a mane. Girls would be jealous of her for years, and boys, boys would be chasing her for years. Crystal blue eyes, dark thick wavy hair, and a complexion that had settled closer to Callie's almond tone than to Derek's.

Erynn had shown her stubbornness early, deciding to come 5 weeks ahead of time and then refusing to budge when Callie was induced. Instead of the 1-2 hours of labor everyone was hoping for, Callie fought for 6 hours. Any longer and Dr. Martinez would have had to do a c-section; Callie's blood pressure and the threat of infection were just becoming too high.

But Erynn timed it down to the minute. Crowning just as everyone was about to switch into c-section mode.

Derek blamed the baby's stubbornness on Callie; and Callie blamed the baby's stubbornness on Derek… the man could be tough when he wanted to be. _Assertive,_ she smiled.

Nearly two weeks were spent in the NICU where tiny, five pound, three ounce Erynn quietly squeaked her pleas to be fed, changed, held… while her lungs grew and strengthened. At the end of the twelfth day, Derek and Callie were told that they could finally take their baby home.

Home to her perfectly purple nursery.

The next eight weeks had been a beautiful hell.

Callie had thought sleep was hard to come by as a doctor; Ha! Doctor's slept like Rip Van Winkle in comparison to parents of a newborn. And then there was the game of figuring out 'why' the baby was crying. Pain? Hunger? Poopie pants? Just because she could?

And Callie wasn't even going to think about the breastfeeding experience. Natural my ass.

But for every second, every half thought of tiredness… she was happy. They were happy. Happier than they'd ever been before. Derek and Callie had Erynn. Alive. Lungs bursting with cries. Blue eyes staring up at them as she plotted her next sleep attack.

Life was good.

The only way it could get better would be if Callie could fix the limbo that she and Derek were in. In the ten weeks that they'd had Erynn, they'd slept in the same bed, but that was it. They simply slept; at first because they had to, and after that, simply because they were too damn tired to do anything but sleep.

Plus, there was this question mark hanging over them, even if she was the only one who could see it; the question mark that read: 'Really? The two of us? We kind of fell into one another; into something, but that something is done… are we done?'

Callie had mulled over this question all throughout her two week trip to Miami. Erynn had been cooed over by her uncles and her abuelitas, and Callie attended her brother's wedding, and her other brother's engagement party, and there had been love and laughter and happiness everywhere.

And she had been happy too. She had Erynn, so life was good; she was happy. But she also missed Derek. She missed him like… like… like he was necessary for her. She missed him the same way that she would miss air. She missed breathing him.

_I'm giving it up  
no more running around spinning my wheels  
you came out of my dream and you made it real  
I know what I feel  
it's you  
it's all because of you!_

And that had been her answer. The answer to the question; 'really? the two of us?'

For her, the answer was 'yes. Hell yes. Hell. To. The. Yes.'

All of which explained why she'd dressed up for her longass flight from Miami to Seattle. She wanted to wow Derek. She wanted to seduce him. She wanted… him. She was done edging around the idea of the two of them. She was going back to Seattle with a clear cut goal - capturing Derek Shepherd's heart.

LSLSLSLSLSLS

A plus about being the mom of a newborn? You were first to load and first to unload from the plane.

Callie pushed the closed stroller, carried Erynn in her carrier, and hefted her carry-on down the disembarkment hall; not a very sexy look. Fortunately, she and Derek were meeting in the baggage claim area. Stepping to the side and stopping, she put down Erynn's carrier, opened the stroller and with a, now, practiced hand, she clicked the carrier into place. "All right Erynn, let's go get daddy."

LSLSLSLSLSLS

She kept glancing between the luggage being released on the conveyer and the doors. No Derek yet, but her flight had gotten in a little early. Leaning over the stroller she touched Erynn's sleeping face. If they could patent and package the softness of baby skin… or their scent…?

LSLSLSLSLSLS

Derek entered the Baggage claim area and immediately saw Callie. Hard to miss the tall, voluptuous woman who was still the subject of all of his dreams.

He'd almost made his way all the way up to Callie's side before she turned around to scan the doors again. Her eyes landed on him and her face brightened.

"Derek!" She glanced back at the conveyer, "Just in time." She leaned in to kiss him quickly on the cheek and give him Erynn's stroller before diving into the melee of people who were waiting for their bags.

Derek was torn between watching her fighting her way through the crowd, and reveling in the pleasure of seeing his daughter again. For the moment, the baby won; he was crouched down next to the stroller talking to Erynn when Callie rolled up next to him with her bags.

"I can take those," he motioned to the luggage, but Callie shooed him away.

"You've got the important stuff."

LSLSLSLSLSLS

_you are the reason  
you are the reason I wake up every day  
sleep through the night  
you are the reason  
the reaaaaasssssoooonn_

The trip home freaked Derek out a bit. Just a little bit. He'd barely started the car when Callie reached for his hand, holding it for basically the whole trip. It's not that they hadn't held hands before; it's just that they hadn't done so since they became parents.

He tried not to make a big deal of it, simply rubbing his thumb along the back of her hand.

As they pulled up to the house, he offered, "I picked up food from Anna's."

"Chicken salad?"

He smiled, "Chicken salad."

"I could kiss you! As a matter of fact," she leaned over in the truck and pressed her lips to his jaw, pecking once, then once again, before moving her lips to the corner of his mouth. He turned into her kiss.

 _God he'd missed this. Missed her scent, her touch, her flavor._ He lifted his hand to her neck and pulled her closer, letting her rest her curves against his body. And God, her curves! He'd missed her curves, her breasts, her hips; he opened his mouth to tell her how amazing she was, but she beat him to it.

"I missed you."

He kissed her again. "I missed you too." He barely got the words out of his mouth before their daughter added her 2 cents to the conversation, starting a sniffle that quickly turned into a wail.

Callie smiled against Derek's lips. "She's probably hungry. Or wet."

He chuckled. "Let's get you both inside, and fed."

She caught his arm as he started out of the car, and pulling him back in she kissed him again. A 'more to come' kiss.

LSLSLSLSLSLS

_in the middle of the night  
I'm going down cuz I want you  
I want to touch you  
I want to floor you  
you are the reason  
babyyyyyyyyyyy_

Derek placed Erynn into her crib, brushing his hand along her face before turning on the baby monitor and backing out of the room.

"Down and out?" Callie asked from the other end of the hall.

"Finally," he whispered as he pulled the baby's burp cloth off of his shoulder.

"She's kind of amazing isn't she?"

He grinned. "She takes after her mother."

Callie took a quick, imperceptible breath then went for it. Turning her back to Derek, she pulled her sweater off and dropped it on the hall floor. Glancing back over her shoulder at him, she headed into their bedroom.

Derek was NOT a dumb man. He was at the bedroom door before he even knew he was moving.

Callie was at the bedside, turning on their end of the monitor; then she turned and faced him. Her black tank top, jeans and boots suddenly ranking as his current favorite for her sexiest outfit.

She lifted her hand and crooked her finger at him, beckoning him closer.

He dropped the towel he was still holding onto the floor and did as he was told. Reaching her side, he placed his hands on her hips. "You called?"

She grinned. "I just wanted to… finish what we started in the car." She lowered her hands to his belt buckle. "Me, showing you, just how much I missed you."

"Come on baby, finish what you started."

She laughed, "Van Halen?"

"I think we had this discussion before but, I'm multifaceted… I like all kinds of music. And all kinds of books. And…" he dipped his head to her neck, kissing the spot that made her whole body weak. "Just one particular woman."

She moaned in response to his lips, in response to his words. "Mmmm, I really, really missed you. Your stupidly perfect hair, and your eyes, your stupid sexy eyes. And yeah…, mmm, your lips. Such good lips." She pulled his buckle apart, and fumbled with the button and zipper of his jeans. With a frustrated groan she dropped her fingers from his pants and backed away from him, moving her hands to the bottom of her own tank top. "Okay, we need to get naked. Now."

"You're lucky I like the way you think, or, I might have issues with your orders." He pulled his own shirt off over his head, ignoring the buttons. In between stripping out of his own clothes, he watched Callie pull off her tank top, then shimmy her way out of her jeans.

When she stepped out of her jeans, she glanced over at him, and another momentary twinge of 'seriously, does he really find me sexy' ran through her.

He read her mind, "I'd drool, but I have better plans for my mouth."

She grinned. "I'm gonna hold you to that." She sat on the bed and reached for the zippers on her boots, undoing first one, and then the other and slipping her feet out of their encasings.

Standing in just his boxers, Derek mentally groaned. Even her taking off her boots was sexy.

Pulling off her socks, Callie looked up at Derek and smiled. "Someone's a little excited."

Derek looked down at the front of his boxers. "More than a little excited." He moved in her direction. "Have I mentioned how… hot you are?"

"You mentioned something about drooling, but feel free to share again."

He placed his knee on the bed, between her legs, following her back on to the bed as he edged up along her. "You're hot. Beautiful. Sexy. Gorgeous."

She slid her hands up his arms. "Flattery will get you everywhere."

Derek dipped his head down, letting his nose rub along her shoulder. "… and sweet. You always smell so sweet, and taste," he bent his head to her neck, "delicious."

Callie raised her leg along Derek's thigh. "You have to say that, you want to get into my pants."

He dropped one hand to her stomach, and ran it along the edge of her panties, "You're not wearing pants."

"You noticed."

"Want me to tell you where my favorite freckle is on your body?"

She giggled and he lowered his lips to hers, rolling them over so that Callie was on top of him; soft, and definitely a woman.

Callie stared down at him, her brown eyes searching his blue ones.

"What?" He worked at the straps of her bra.

"I think I could fall for you. I... I think I may have already fallen for you."

Derek stopped fiddling with her bra.

Even two seconds of silence was too long for Callie. "I – I don't expect you to feel the same –"

"Shut up Torres." Derek smiled a lazy, happy smile. "If you think you **could** fall for me, you'd just be catching up with me." He cupped her face. "I think you had me when you started singing Prince to me."

Callie's face lit up. "So let me get this straight," she pressed a kiss to his lips, then placed one on his chin. "You have a 'thing' for me?"

He cleared his throat as she lowered her head to his neck, planting a soft kiss there. "Callie, I think I have a couple of things for you."


End file.
